Trump unharmed after another ‘assassination attempt’ in Florida
Former US President Donald Trump has again been the target of an alleged assassination attempt at his Florida golf course in the midst of the November presidential election campaign.
The incident comes just two months after another assassination attempt in Pennsylvania, where the Republican candidate was shot in the ear during a rally.
Police confirmed the arrest of a person near where Trump was playing golf, as well as the discovery of an AK-47 rifle with a telescopic sight with which the detainee wanted to attack the Republican candidate.
At around 13:30, Secret Service agents saw a man with a rifle next to the fence of the golf course belonging to Trump, about 300-500 metres from the former president. The Secret Service then shot him and the suspect ran out of the bushes where he was hiding.
According to Sheriff Ric Bradshaw at a press conference, the arrested man, who was also carrying two backpacks and a GoPro sports camera, was arrested after the Secret Service tracked him down after a witness took pictures of his number plate as he attempted to flee in a pickup truck.
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, has a criminal record and, according to his social media accounts, considers himself a staunch supporter of Ukraine. In this regard, Routh, who had no military experience, confirmed to the New York Times in 2023 that he had travelled to Ukraine immediately after the Russian invasion in 2022 to find military recruits among Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban.
Also, according to his social media posts, in 2016 he voted for Trump and supported his re-election in 2020. However, his political leanings seem confusing because in recent years he has expressed support for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, AP reports.
Unlike the assassination attempt in July, Trump was not injured during the incident. ‘Shots were fired in my immediate vicinity, but before the rumours start to get out of hand, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND OK,’ the US tycoon wrote in a statement. A subsequent campaign email quoted Trump as saying his ‘resolve is even stronger after another attempt on my life’.
Following this new incident, US President Joe Biden ordered his team to ‘continue to ensure’ that the Secret Service has ‘all the resources, capabilities and protective measures necessary’ to ensure Trump's ‘continued’ security.
The current president said he was ‘relieved that the former president is unharmed,’ after praising the work of the Secret Service and other law enforcement ‘for their vigilance and efforts to keep the former president and those around him safe,’ according to a White House statement.
‘As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or violence of any kind in our country,’ said Biden, who also indicated that there is an active investigation into the incident as law enforcement gathers more details about what happened.
I have been briefed by my team regarding what federal law enforcement is investigating as a possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today.
— President Biden (@POTUS) September 16, 2024
A suspect is in custody, and I commend the work of the Secret Service and their law enforcement partners for their…
For its part, the FBI's Miami office has announced the deployment of ‘a number of resources’, including ‘investigative teams, crisis response team members, bomb technicians and evidence response team members’ to investigate the incident, which they are already describing as ‘an assassination attempt’.
