Sept 15 (Askume) – The Secret Service foiled what the FBI said was an assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump while he was golfing at a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
Law enforcement officials said Secret Service agents spotted a gunman in bushes near the golf course line and opened fire. The incident happened just a few hundred yards from where Trump was playing.
The suspect abandoned an AK-47 rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle, but was later arrested.
Two months ago, Trump was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania and suffered a minor injury to his right ear.
Both incidents underscore the challenges of ensuring the safety of presidential candidates amid a heated and polarizing campaign just seven weeks before the Nov. 5 election.
It is unclear how the suspect knew Trump was golfing at the time, but the attempted attack raises new questions about the level of security provided to him.
CNN, Fox News and The New York Times, citing unnamed law enforcement officials, identified the suspect as 58-year-old Hawaiian Ryan Wesley Roth. The FBI declined to comment and Askume could not independently confirm his identity.
Askume found profiles on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn of a man named Ryan Routh, who appears to be the man identified as a suspect by those news organizations.
Askume could not confirm whether these were the suspect’s accounts and law enforcement agencies declined to comment, but public access to Facebook and X’s profiles were removed a few hours after the shooting.
Three accounts bearing Rouse’s name indicate he was an enthusiastic supporter of Ukraine’s war against Russia. Several posts show him trying to help recruit soldiers for the war in Ukraine.
gun barrel in the bushes
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Secret Service agents were clearing the area of potential threats ahead of Trump’s game when they spotted a rifle barrel coming from the bushes about 400 to 500 yards from Trump.
At about 1:30 pm (1730 GMT), agents surrounded the gunman and fired at least four shots.
The gunman then dropped his rifle and fled in a black Nissan, leaving behind two bags and other belongings. The sheriff said a witness saw the shooter and took photos of his car and license plate before he fled.
“The Secret Service did what it was supposed to do,” Bradshaw said. He declined to identify the suspect or provide a possible motive.
After the suspect fled the scene, police alerted agencies across the state with information about his vehicle, and sheriff’s deputies in neighboring Martin County tracked the suspect to a golf course about 40 miles (65 kilometers) away on Interstate 95.
Fox News host Sean Hannity said he has spoken to Trump and New York real estate investor and longtime friend Steve Witkoff, who spoke with Trump on the golf course on Sunday.
“They were on the fifth hole. The way Steve described it, the way the president described it, they all had exactly the same story, which is that they listened to pop music, pop music,” Hannity said. He added that the Secret Service “swung in on the president and put him in hiding.”
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham told The New York Times that he had spoken to Trump and the former president thanked his Secret Service agents, with the president saying, “These guys are amazing.
In response to questions from reporters, officials acknowledged that the entire golf course was not on lockdown while Trump was out of office.
“If that were the case, we would have cordoned off the entire golf course, because that wasn’t the case, security was limited to areas where the Secret Service felt it was possible,” Bradshaw said at a news conference Sunday.
Trump sent an email to supporters, saying, “There are bullets flying around me, but before the rumors get out of control, I want you to read this: I am safe,” according to an email seen by Askume.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the incident and were relieved to learn she was safe, the White House said in a statement.
Biden later said he had directed his team to ensure the Secret Service had the resources necessary to keep Trump safe, according to a statement released by the White House.
The presidential race between Trump and Harris is tight, with Harris’ poll ratings having increased since she replaced Biden as the Democratic nominee in July.
“There is no place for violence in America,” Harris posted on social media.
In October 2020, Rouse expressed his support for Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked Biden by calling him “Sleepy Joe”.
Rouse tagged Biden in a post on Twitter earlier this year: “@POTUS your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America a democracy and free. Trump general election should be MASA… Americans should be like this, democracy is above all at the ballot box, we can’t lose.
Trump’s presidential running mate, US Senator Vance, said he spoke to Trump after the shooting and that the former president was in good spirits.
On July 13, a shooting took place at a rally in Pennsylvania, grazed Trump’s right ear and killed a rally attendee. The gunman was identified as 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, who was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
It was the first firing of a U.S. president or major-party presidential nominee in more than four decades, and the serious security breach led to the resignation of Kimberly Chatel as Secret Service director amid bipartisan pressure from Congress.
The new acting Secret Service director said in August that he was “embarrassed” by the security breach that led to the assassination attempt.
