Here is What We Know About a 2nd Trump Assassination Attempt

The FBI investigated a shooting near former President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach Florida, early Sunday afternoon September 15th as an “attempted assassination.”  58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, is the would-be Trump assassin, who says he fought in the Ukraine war, and supports the war against Russia. In the recent debate, Trump mentioned that he would end that war if he became President.  Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, after a three-hour standoff with police.  Routh was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, “referring to a fully automatic machine gun.” The suspect has also reportedly been previously arrested eight times, mostly for minor offenses.  Mr. Routh, has been living in Hawaii and was formerly a construction worker in North Carolina.  In the photo below, it shows an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence.

While Trump was playing golf Sunday afternoon at his Trump International Golf course an AK-47 was pointed into the golf course fencing.  At around 1.30pm a suspect was seen poking that rifle through the fence around the perimeter of the course.  The suspect was near the fourth or fifth hole. This was one or two holes ahead of where Trump was playing. Trump was between 400 and 500 yards from the gunman.  A U.S. Secret Service was one hole ahead of Trump’s group on the course.  He spotted the suspect in the shrubbery by the fence and “immediately engaged that individual,” The officer opened fire. The suspect abandoned the weapon and escaped in a Nissan SUV. A witness told police he saw the suspect running out of the bushes, and jumped into the black Nissan vehicle pictured below. The witness took a photograph of the vehicle, which allowed police to track the suspect via the license plate. 

The suspect had an AK-style rifle with a scope, and two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera.  Photos shared by law enforcement show two black bags hanging from a chain-link fence in the shrubbery outside the course, with the firearm propped up in between them and pointed through a gap in the fence. The GoPro camera was hanging on the fence to the side. The suspect fled in the SUV and was later apprehended in a nearby county without the weapon.  Police took the witness to the scene of the arrest and the witness identified the suspect.  There was only one person of interest in the investigation who was being interrogated. No information about a possible motive at this point. Prosecutors are working up warrant and pretrial detention applications. The suspect will initially be charged at the state level but could also be charged with federal crimes.  “Our filing of the warrant and charges at the state level does not preclude the federal charges that could be coming,” But in the meantime, it looks like the warrants and a pretrial detention motion will happen first.”  In an email to supporters, Trump said: “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!”  “Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” the former president said.  Trump’s running mate, Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance, posted on X that he spoke to the former president before the news became public and said, “he was, amazingly, in good spirits.”  Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham posted to X, formerly Twitter, that he had spoken to the former president and that he was “in good spirits and he is more resolved than ever to save our country.”