A suspect was arrested Sunday in what the FBI is investigating as an apparent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump while he was playing golf in West Palm Beach, Florida.
This is the second attempt in two months to kill Trump.
In July, the former president was hit in the ear by a bullet fired at him during a campaign rally. One rally attendee, Corey Comperatore, was killed in the incident and two others were injured. The suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by the Secret Service.
No injuries were reported during Sunday’s incident. The Associated Press, CNN and other media citing law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old man with ties to Hawaii and North Carolina. His motive is under investigation.
Here’s what we know about the potential shooter so far.
The Secret Service opened fire on the man
On Sunday, while Trump was playing golf on his West Palm Beach golf course, a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel in the bushes. Agents were deployed to clear the area.
“We’re not sure right now if the individual was able to shoot our agents, but certainly, our agents were able to engage,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said during a press conference Sunday shortly after the incident. . .
The official said Trump was between 300 and 500 meters away when a rifle was seen through a chain-link fence.
After the Secret Service shot the man, he fled the scene.
Routh was seen by a witness
During the news conference, Bradshaw said a witness spotted a man “running from the bushes” near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach after reports of shots being fired on the golf course.
“We had units here that immediately sealed off the area. Thankfully, we were able to find a witness who came up to us and said, ‘Hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan and I took a picture of the vehicle. and the label,’ which was great,” Bradshaw said.
Using information from an eyewitness, law enforcement located the vehicle on I-95 heading into Martin County. The suspect was pulled over and detained by law enforcement and remains in custody.
He was carrying an AK-47 sawed-off rifle
After the suspect fled, law enforcement said they found two backpacks containing ceramic tiles, a GoPro camera and an “AK-47-style rifle with a scope” near a chain-link fence near the golf course.
It remains unclear whether the suspect managed to fire any bullets before the Secret Service opened fire on him.
He was previously convicted of weapons possession
The Associated Press reported that Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, in that case a fully automatic machine gun.
AP, citing a News & Record story, reported that Routh had been arrested after a three-hour standoff with law enforcement in which he barricaded himself inside a roofing business following a traffic stop. It is unclear how the charges were resolved, The New York Times reported.
He wanted to die in the war in Ukraine
The New York Times reported that Routh had expressed on social media a desire to die in battle in Ukraine’s war against Russia.
His biography on Signal, an encrypted messaging platform, read in part, “Civilians must change this war and prevent future wars,” The Times reported.
The former construction worker spoke to the paper in 2023 about an article about Americans traveling to Ukraine to help the war effort. He told the newspaper he had no military experience but had traveled to Ukraine after the Russian invasion to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight in the country.