 "Republican presidential nominee and former US President Donald Trump. File Image: AP")
A suspect has been arrested and an AK-47 assault rifle and scope have been recovered by the authorities shortly after what the FBI called an “assassination attempt” on former US President Donald Trump. The incident took place at Trump’s golf course in Florida on Sunday afternoon.
An agent working with the US Secret Service spotted the muzzle of a firearm after multiple shots were fired in the “vicinity” of the former president. As per the authorities, the gunman was hiding in the bushes at the Trump International club in West Palm Beach, where the business-mogul-turned politician was playing at the time of the incident.
Soon after the incident, Trump’s campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement that the Republican presidential nominee was “safe” after the incident. During a press briefing, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that the authorities found two backpacks and a GoPro camera, against the fence by the rifle.
Who was the suspect?
While Bradshaw kept the identity of the suspect hidden, the Republican Florida state representative John Snyder wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the main culprit was a “white man”. “The suspect in custody related to the #Trump shooting incident is a white male, in his mid-60s,” Snyder wrote in the post.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsMeanwhile, three local law enforcement officials, speaking to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity, named him as Ryan Wesley Routh. Voter registration documents indicated that Routh was either aged 57 or 58 and was residing in Julien. He was registered as a Democrat, having voted most recently in March this year.
A now-suspended social media account which allegedly belonged to the person featured numerous posts strongly supporting Ukraine in its war with Russia. It is pertinent to note that during the presidential debate against US Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump was hesitant to state whether he wants Ukraine to win in the ongoing war against Russia.
What we know so far
The unharmed incident took place on Sunday at 1:30 pm (local time) while Trump was playing around the 5th and 6th hole. Bradshaw stated that the suspect was spotted between 300 and 500 yards from where Trump was, but “with a rifle and the scope like that, that’s not a long distance,” the Sheriff averred.
“Fortunately we were able to locate a witness who came 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 tag,’” Bradshaw explained during the press briefing.
“We were able to get a hit on that vehicle on I-95. The witness that witnessed the incident, we took him up there and he identified [the suspect] as the person he saw running out of the bushes and jumped into the car," he added.
Shortly after the suspect was taken into custody, the FBI released a statement in which they maintained that the incident was likely to be the second assassination attempt against Trump in the last two months. Trump was injured after he was shot during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
Bradshaw said at the presser that the arrested person had made “no statement right now as far as his involvement in the incident, and there’s further investigation to be completed”.
With inputs from agencies.