Man Arrested for Alleged Assassination Attempt on Trump at Golf Course
On Sunday, a 58-year-old man was arrested following an alleged assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to Ronald Rowe Jr., the acting head of the Secret Service, during a press conference on Monday, the suspect did not have a direct line of sight to Trump when he was spotted by agents.
Rowe detailed that the situation escalated quickly when an agent noticed an individual with a rifle on the opposite side of the golf course's fence. The agent immediately drew his weapon and discharged a shot upon observing the armed individual. Fortunately, the suspect, identified as Ryan Routh, fled the scene without firing at any agents.
Although no shots were exchanged, law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, the U.S. Department of Justice, and local police, were present at the press conference to address the incident. Routh has a history of minor offenses, including fleeing the scene of a traffic accident and resisting arrest, according to various American media reports such as CBS News.
In a previous encounter in 2019, authorities received a tip suggesting that Routh was unlawfully in possession of a weapon, which the FBI communicated to local law enforcement in Honolulu. Routh has spent a majority of his life in the state of Hawaii. Mobile data suggests that he had been in proximity to Trump's golf course for about 12 hours before being detected by Secret Service agents.
While it remains unclear if Routh was aware of Trump's visit, Rowe indicated that Trump's presence at the golf course was not part of a pre-planned schedule, stating, 'I have no information regarding that' during the ongoing investigation.
Current investigation efforts by the FBI include reviewing surveillance camera materials from the area to gather more information on the suspect's intentions and actions leading up to the alarming incident.
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