A gunman hid in bushes for nearly 12 hours before Donald Trump played an unscheduled round of golf at his Florida beach club — leaving locals stunned by what authorities said appeared to be the second attempt to assassinate the former president in as many months.
It was hot and cloudy Sunday afternoon when Trump and his good friend, real estate developer Steve Witkoff, arrived at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
The former president was on the fifth green at 13:31 EDT (17:31 GMT), an area adjacent to busy roads near Palm Beach International Airport, when a member of his security team spotted a rifle protruding from the foliage near the sixth hole.
Trump — who was evacuated unharmed — recounted on Monday night that he heard “maybe four or five” gunshots ring out in the close distance.
ReutersA Secret Service agent responded quickly and opened fire on the suspect, who was about 300 to 500 yards away and could not get a clear view of Trump, federal investigators said.
“The Secret Service knew right away it was a bullet, and they grabbed me,” Trump said during a livestream event on X, formerly Twitter, from his Mar-a-Lago resort.
“We got in the car and it went pretty well. I had an agent with me, and that agent did a great job.”
The gunman — who investigators say did not fire a shot — hid behind manicured bushes and tall palm trees that line the perimeter of the 27-hole golf course.
According to cell phone records cited by federal officials, he had been lurking on the public side of the fence since 01:59 local time on Sunday morning.
The suspect was armed with two digital cameras, a black plastic food bag, an SKS-style semi-automatic rifle — a weapon with a range of nearly 440 yards — and a scope to magnify the lens.
The Republican presidential candidate’s final public campaign event was on the other side of the country on Saturday night in Utah.
Residents say Trump spends most Sundays at his West Palm Beach golf club when he’s not campaigning.
But Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe said Monday that the former president “wasn’t even allowed to be there,” so agents had to make last-minute security plans.
The foiled plot has left Trump’s neighbors in Palm Beach with pressing questions.
Did the suspect know in advance that the former president was coming to play golf or was that just a guess?
How could he hide in the bushes for so long without being detected with a rifle?
The shooter fled the scene in a black Nissan, abandoning a backpack containing goods and weapons.
Mr. Trump said Monday night that a civilian woman took a photo of his license plate and turned it over to investigators.
The gunman was on the run for about 40 minutes before police stopped his car on Interstate 95 and ordered him out.
Body camera footage shows him appearing calm as police shout at him and order him to move aside before handcuffing him without incident.
On Monday, suspect Ryan Routh, 58, appeared in a crowded courthouse in Palm Beach, wearing a blue jail jumpsuit and smiling as he chatted with his attorney.
He was charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and one count of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. More charges may be forthcoming.
Routh, a Hawaii resident with a criminal record, came to the FBI’s attention in 2019 as a felon in possession of a firearm. The bureau alerted law enforcement in Honolulu at the time.
While the suspect’s motive for planning to target Trump has not been revealed, he previously said on social media that he voted for the Republican candidate in 2016 before turning his back on him.
On Monday, around Trump’s golf course, bright orange cones, barricades, police cars and police officers guarded every corner of the club.
The incident shocked West Palm Beach and surrounding towns.
“No matter how good security you have and how good everything is, if someone is willing to sacrifice their life to take the life of another person, it can still happen,” Shelby Stevens, a 52-year-old Trump supporter from West Palm Beach, told the BBC.
Cosme Blanco lived just blocks from the golf course for most of his life, where he said Trump would visit up to twice a week when not campaigning.
The 61-year-old Trump supporter said the security presence around the golf club is usually not overwhelming. But that all changed Sunday, when Blanco ran outside five minutes after the gunfire to see helicopters circling the neighborhood.
“I am worried. I am almost 62 years old and I have never seen America change so much,” said the Cuban immigrant.
Blanco said it would not have been difficult for the suspect to target Trump at his golf course.
The former president traveled there by motorcade, which took about 12 minutes from Mar-a-Lago across a bridge overlooking the Lake Worth lagoon.
“If they saw the motorcade coming, I’m sure they knew he was going to play golf – that’s understandable,” Blanco said.
But Anka Palitz, a Palm Beach resident who said she has known Trump for years, said Routh’s timing was suspicious.
“He doesn’t play golf every Sunday,” she said. “I think there’s some kind of conspiracy.”
“How is he? [the gunman] “Don’t you see?” she added.
Palitz, who said she had gone skiing with Trump’s ex-wife, Ivana, said she believed someone had warned the suspect that the former president would be at the ski slopes that day.
Patricia Pelham, a British native who has lived in Florida for 30 years, wondered where the suspect could have parked close enough to make a quick getaway.
“Why is there no security around outside?” the British woman asked, adding that she was not a Trump supporter.
Pelham said security measures have been stepped up around Mar-a-Lago on Palm Beach Island since Trump was wounded when a 20-year-old gunman tried to assassinate him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
On Monday, police cars lined the island’s roads nearly every half mile, while the 17-acre resort was blocked off to visitors.
Authorities say the entire golf course would be under siege if a sitting US president were on the course.
After blaming the White House for the latest assassination attempt on him, Trump said Monday night that he had a “very good call” with President Joe Biden, a Democrat, about increasing Secret Service protection.
President Biden has asked Congress to approve more money for the agency in the coming weeks, saying the Secret Service “needs more help.”
Michael Matranga, a former Secret Service agent who worked for former President Barack Obama, said Trump is better protected than many other former presidents, who often receive less protection than current White House occupants.
For example, he said, former presidents are not typically provided with counter-sniper teams like Trump.
The Secret Service has faced intense scrutiny since the first Trump assassination attempt, when the agency’s head, Kimberly Cheatle, resigned less than two weeks after the rally.
The Secret Service is under-resourced, agency officials say.
But even with the additional resources, Matranga said agents are still forced to strike a delicate balance between protecting Trump while still allowing him to interact with voters during the campaign and “enjoy a round of golf.”
Matranga said they could not “keep him in a bulletproof box”.
And Trump doesn’t seem to want to be included in that list either.
In a fundraising email sent out Monday afternoon, he told his supporters: “My determination is even stronger after another assassination attempt!”
It’s a “tough” stance that Stevens expects Trump to maintain as he continues to court voters in the weeks leading up to the November general election.
“I don’t think he wants the American people to know that he’s afraid to go out,” Stevens said.
“I think he’ll still be present, not just here but everywhere. I don’t think it’s something he’ll shy away from.”
