Donald Trump was the target of a second assassination attempt Sunday, as officials said a man armed with an assault rifle got within firing range of the Republican presidential nominee at his golf course in Florida.
U.S. Secret Service agents, who were clearing the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach ahead of Mr. Trump, fired at a man hiding in the bushes with an AK-style rifle with a scope.
The man wasn’t hit but fled before getting off a shot himself. He was arrested shortly afterward in neighboring Martin County.
“The FBI has responded to West Palm Beach, Florida, and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump,” the agency said in a statement.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the gunman had two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera, suggesting a desire to livestream or post the action, and that he was 300 to 500 yards from Mr. Trump.
A marksman with a telescope could hit a target from that range, the sheriff said.
Authorities say Mr. Trump’s security detail stopped the man while they were clearing the next hole on the golf course. He dropped the weapon and fled in a black SUV. He was arrested in a neighboring county.
“The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job,” Sheriff Bradshaw said. “What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole at a time to where the president was at, and he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engage that individual, at which time that individual took off.”
News outlets identified the man as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. Police didn’t detail a motive or charges.
Mr. Trump, who had returned to Florida after a West Coast campaign swing, was not injured.
In a fundraising email to supporters, Mr. Trump vowed to keep fighting.
“There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I am safe and well!” Mr. Trump said. “I will never surrender! I will always love you for supporting me.”
In an email to staffers, top campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles thanked the Secret Service. “President Trump and everyone accompanying him are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,” they said.
Seven weeks from Election Day, the chilling episode adds to the chaotic nature of a competitive presidential campaign season that has further polarized the nation.
Mr. Trump survived an assassination attempt in July in Pennsylvania. Some of his allies blamed the incident in part on Democrats and the media for stoking hatred for the Republican presidential nominee.
Democrats have long warned that Mr. Trump’s combative, take-no-prisoners style represents a threat to democracy from a budding dictator.
The Pennsylvania shooter, 20-year-old Mathew Crooks, was killed by law enforcement officials after opening fire from a rooftop near a Trump rally site. Crooks killed one man, injured two others, and one of his bullets grazed Mr. Trump’s ear, but he did not seem to be ideologically aligned with either political party.
Days later, President Biden withdrew from the race, and soon after, Vice President Kamala Harris replaced him on the Democratic ticket.
According to Mr. Routh’s LinkedIn profile, the suspect owns Camp Box Honolulu, a shed-building company that opened in 2018.
His X account frequently criticizes politicians and rallied support for Ukraine, tagging X owner and Tesla CEO Elon Musk in one post and asking him if he could purchase a rocket from him to kill Russian strongman Vladimir Putin.
He also called Mr. Trump a threat to democracy, echoing Democratic rhetoric about him.
“Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trump’s should be MASA…make Americans slaves again master,” he said in one post in which he tagged Mr. Biden’s official @POTUS account.
“DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose. We cannot afford to fail. The world is counting on us to show the way,” the post from April 22 concludes.
Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder told reporters that the man “was not armed when we took him out of the car” in the arrest on northbound Interstate 95.
“One of my road patrol units saw the vehicle, matched the tag and we set up on the vehicle,” he said, “We pinched in on the car, got it safely stopped and got the driver in custody.”
The man had a calm, flat demeanor and showed little emotion when he was stopped, Sheriff Snyder said, saying the suspect “never questioned” why he was being pulled over.
The assassination attempt played out days after Mr. Trump and Ms. Harris faced off for the first - and perhaps last - time on the debate stage in Philadelphia and amid a heightened conversation over the nation’s immigration policy.
Mr. Trump was slated to be back on the campaign trail this week. He has rallies scheduled in Michigan, New York, and North Carolina.
Mr. Biden posted on his official social media account that he had been briefed on the day’s events and is “relieved that the former President is unharmed.”
The president said that he has “directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety.”
Ms. Harris, in a post on social media, said she was “glad” to hear Mr. Trump was not hurt.
“I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America,” Ms. Harris wrote on X Sunday.
Mr. Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, also said he was glad the former president was safe.
“I spoke to him before the news was public and he was, amazingly, in good spirits,” he wrote on X. “Still much we don’t know, but I’ll be hugging my kids extra tight tonight and saying a prayer of gratitude.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity said Mr. Trump was characteristically cheeky when the two shared a phone call shortly after the shooting.
“In typical ‘Fight, fight, fight’ fashion, Trump … relayed it to me, ‘I really wanted to finish the hole. I was even, and I had a birdie putt,’ and apparently it was on the fifth hole, which shows a lot of, I think, guts and gumption, and very Trumpian, I guess, in every way,” Mr. Hannity said.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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