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A suspect was arrested on Sunday after an alleged attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
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It was the second attempt in two months to assassinate the former president.
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Here’s what we know about the shooting suspect, who is in police custody.
A suspect was arrested Sunday in what the FBI is investigating as the attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump while he was golfing in West Palm Beach, Florida.
It is the second attempt in two months to assassinate Trump.
In July, the former president was struck in the ear by a bullet fired at him during a campaign rally. One attendee, Corey Comperatore, was killed in the incident and two others were wounded. The suspect, Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by the Secret Service.
No injuries were reported in Sunday’s incident. The Associated Press, CNN and other media outlets citing law enforcement sources identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old man with ties to both Hawaii and North Carolina. His motive is under investigation.
Here’s what we know so far about the potential shooter.
The secret service opened fire on the man
On Sunday, while Trump was playing golf at his West Palm Beach course, a Secret Service agent spotted a gun barrel in the bushes. Agents were called in to clear the area.
“We don’t know for sure at this point if the male was able to hit our officers, but our officers were certainly able to intervene,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said during a news conference on Sunday, shortly after the incident.
The official said Trump was about 300 to 500 yards away when a gun was seen through a fence.
After the Secret Service shot the man, he fled.
Routh was noticed by a witness
During the news conference, Bradshaw said a witness saw a man running “out of the bushes” near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach after reports of shots fired on the course.
“We had units here that immediately closed the area down. Fortunately, we were able to find a witness who came up to us and said, ‘Hey, I saw this guy run out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan and I got a picture of the vehicle and the tag,’ which was great,” Bradshaw said.
Using information from the eyewitness, police identified the vehicle on the I-95 freeway as it entered Martin County. The suspect was apprehended and detained by local law enforcement and remains in custody.
He was carrying an AK-47 rifle with a scope
After the suspect fled, officers said they found two backpacks containing ceramic tiles, a GoPro camera and an “AK-47-style rifle with a scope” near a fence near the golf course.
It is unclear whether the suspect fired before the Secret Service opened fire on him.
He was previously convicted of weapons possession
According to the Associated Press, Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, in that case a fully automatic machine gun.
AP, referring to a News & Report story, reported that Routh was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police, during which he barricaded himself inside a roofing company following a traffic stop. It is unclear how the charges were resolved, The New York Times reported.
He wanted to die in the war in Ukraine
According to the New York Times, Routh had expressed on social media a desire to die in the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
His biography on Signal, an encrypted messaging platform, said in part: “Citizens must change this war and prevent future wars,” The Times reported.
The former construction worker spoke to the outlet in 2023 for a story about Americans traveling to Ukraine to help with the war effort. He told the outlet that he had no military experience, but that he traveled to Ukraine after the Russian invasion to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight in the country.
Read the original article on Business Insider
