A gunman hid in the woods for nearly 12 hours before Donald Trump played an impromptu round of golf at his Florida beach club – leaving locals stunned by what authorities say appears to be the second assassination attempt on the former president in as many months.
It was hot and overcast Sunday afternoon when Trump and his best friend, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, arrived on the course at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
The former president was on the fifth fairway at 13:31 EDT (17:31 GMT), an area near the busy roads near Palm Beach International Airport, when a member of his security detail saw a gun coming out of the pages near the sixth hole. .
Trump – who was released unharmed – recounted on Monday night that he heard “maybe four or five” gunshots in the distance.
ReutersThe quick-thinking Secret Service opened fire on the suspect, who was 300-500 yards away and had no clear line of sight to Trump, federal investigators said.
“The Secret Service knew right away that it was bullets, and they caught me,” Trump said during an event streamed live on X, previously on Twitter, at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“We got in the cars and we went well, very well. I had an agent, and the agent did a great job.”
The gunman – who investigators say did not fire – was hidden by well-tended trees and tall palm trees that line the perimeter of the 27-hole property.
He had been hiding there on the public side of the fence since 01:59 local time Sunday morning, according to cell phone records, cited by government officials.
The suspect was armed with two digital cameras, a black plastic food bag, an SKS-style semi-automatic rifle – a weapon with a range of approximately 440 yards – and a scope to magnify its lens.
The final Republican presidential campaign event was Saturday evening, on the other side of the country, in the state of Utah.
Residents say Trump spends nearly every Sunday at a West Palm Beach golf club when he’s not on the campaign trail.
But Secret Service director Ronald Rowe said Monday the former president “shouldn’t have gone there,” so agents had to put together a last-minute security plan.
The foiled plot left Trump’s neighbors in Palm Beach with tough questions.
Did the suspect know that the former president would come to play golf, or was it a guess?
How did he stay out of sight for so long, hiding in the bush with a gun?
The gunman fled the scene in a black Nissan, abandoning his backpack and weapon.
The illegal woman was able to take a photo of his license plate and pass it on to investigators, Trump said Monday night.
The gunman made it about 40 minutes before police stopped his car on Interstate 95 and ordered him out.
Body camera footage shows he appeared calm as police yelled at him to step aside before handcuffing him without incident.
On Monday, suspect Ryan Routh, 58, appeared in a crowded Palm Beach courtroom, wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and smiling as he chatted with his attorney.
He was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with a defaced phone number. Additional charges may follow.
Routh, a Hawaii resident with a criminal record, came across the FBI’s radar in 2019 for being a gun-toting felon. The office provided legal advice in Honolulu at the time.
Although his motive for the alleged targeting of Trump has not yet been revealed, the suspect had previously said on social media that he voted for a Republican in 2016 before attacking him.
At the edge of Trump’s golf course on Monday, bright orange cones, barricades, police cars and officials secured every corner of the club.
The incident shocked West Palm Beach and neighboring towns.
Shelby Stevens, a 52-year-old Trump supporter from West Palm Beach, told the BBC: “No matter how secure you are and everything else, if someone is willing to give up their life to take someone else, it’s possible.”
Cosme Blanco has lived just a few blocks from the course his entire life, where he says Trump comes as often as twice a week when he’s not campaigning.
The 61-year-old Trump supporter said security at the golf club was rare. But that all changed on Sunday, when Blanco ran outside five minutes after the shooting to see helicopters circling the neighborhood.
“I was worried. I will be 62 years old and I have never seen America change like this,” said the Cuban immigrant.
Blanco said it would not be difficult for the suspect to target Trump on his golf course.
The former president went there in a motorcade that would take about 12 minutes from Mar-a-Lago across the bridge to the Lake Worth Lagoon.
“When they see a lot of cars coming, I’m sure that’s when they know you’re going to play golf – it’s common sense,” said Blanco.
But Anka Palitz, a Palm Beach resident who says she has known Trump for years, said Routh’s timing was suspicious.
“He doesn’t play golf every Sunday,” he said. “I think there is a conspiracy.”
“How have you been?” [the gunman] don’t you see?” he added.
Palitz, who said he used to go skiing with Trump’s ex-wife, Ivana, said he believes that someone must have informed the suspect that the former president was going to study that day.
Patricia Pelham, a native of the United Kingdom who has lived in Florida for 30 years, wondered if the suspect was able to park his car nearby to get away quickly.
“How is it possible that without security they don’t exist?” asked Briton, who added that he is not a Trump supporter.
Pelham said security measures have been heightened at the Mar-a-Lago resort on the island of Palm Beach since Trump was wounded when a 20-year-old gunman tried to kill him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
On Monday, police cars lined the island’s roads almost every half mile, and the 17-hectare resort was cordoned off to visitors.
Officials said the entire golf course would have been surrounded if it were the president of the United States sitting on the green.
After blaming White House propaganda for the latest assassination attempt, Trump said Monday night he had a “very good phone call” with President Joe Biden about strengthening Secret Service protection.
President Biden, a Democrat, asked Congress on Monday to approve more money for the agency in the coming weeks, saying the Secret Service “needs more help”.
Michael Matranga, a former Secret Service agent who worked for former President Barack Obama, said Trump has had better security than many former presidents, who often receive less security than the White House.
For example, he said, former presidents are not served by opposition parties like Trump.
The Secret Service has faced intense scrutiny since the assassination attempt on Trump began, with the agency’s leader, Kimberly Cheatle, resigning less than two weeks after the rally began.
Officials of the agency said that the Secret Service is short on resources.
But even with the extra resources, Matranga said agents are forced to struggle with the delicate balance of protecting Trump while allowing him to socialize on the campaign trail and “enjoy golf.”
They can’t just “keep him in a bulletproof box”, said Matranga.
And Trump doesn’t seem to want one installed.
In a fundraising email sent Monday afternoon, he told his supporters: “My determination is stronger after another attempt on my life!”
It’s the kind of “tough attitude” Stevens expects Trump to maintain as he continues to court voters in the weeks leading up to the November general election.
“The way I see him, he doesn’t want the American people to know that he’s going to be afraid to go out,” Stevens said.
“I think he will still be seen, not only here but everywhere. I don’t think it’s something he’ll be running away from.”
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