President Trump survived what was described by law enforcement officials as a second attempt on his life Sunday while he was golfing at one of his clubs in Florida.
Authorities said the suspected shooter, identified by Fox News as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was perched near a fence line of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, not far from the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence, when he was spotted by a Secret Service agent who noticed the rifle muzzle and fired several shots at the suspect.
The suspect was armed with an assault-style rifle with a scope and had set up a GoPro camera to record the event, police said. He fled the scene in a black SUV after taking fire and was apprehended without incident in a nearby county shortly thereafter. Police did not say whether the suspect fired any shots, but he was within 500 yards of the former president.
The FBI released a statement after the shootout, saying that it was “investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”
Photos showing an assault-style rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera left behind by a man who allegedly tried to shoot President Trump Sunday. AP/Stephany Matat
Shortly after the incident, Trump released a statement saying he will “NEVER SURRENDER” and that “nothing” would slow him down.
Vice President Harris wrote on X, formerly Twitter, “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.”
The motive of the suspected shooter was not immediately clear. His social media footprint — most of which was deleted immediately after his name surfaced in media reports — indicates that he was involved in the conflict in Ukraine and attempted to recruit foreign soldiers to fight against the Russians as part of the Ukrainian International Legion.
In a tweet from June 2020, Mr. Routh said he voted for Trump in the 2016 election but had second thoughts by 2020. “@realDonaldTrump while you were my choice in 2106 (sic), I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate,” he wrote, “but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems like you are getting worse and devolving; are you retarded; I will be glad when you gone.”
Mr. Routh had previously given an interview to Newsweek. Newsweek.
Mr. Routh, a former construction worker from North Carolina and resident of Hawaii at one point, has surfaced on several media outlets in recent years in connection with his self-proclaimed work in Ukraine. The New York Times interviewed him last year about his efforts to draft Afghan soldiers for the war in Ukraine, and Newsweek recorded an interview with him 2022 about his wider efforts in that war.
When he was arrested by police, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said, Mr. Routh had a calm, flat demeanor and showed little emotion. He did not ask why he was pulled over. “He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” Mr. Snyder said.
The incident comes just two months after Trump barely survived another attempt on his life in Butler, Pennsylvania.