Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday said the state would do its own investigation into what appears to be the second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump within nine weeks.
The FBI said a man is in custody after Trump was the target of “what appears to be an attempted assassination” as Trump played golf at his Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach County.
LATEST: News about the “attempted assassination” from NPR
Trump, the Republican nominee for president, said he's safe and well.
The FBI said it was leading the investigation and working to determine any motive. Attorney General Merrick Garland was receiving regular updates. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were helping investigate.
The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club.
— Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) September 16, 2024
The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP…
However, DeSantis said on the social media site X that, “The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”
Authorities are holding a man after a vehicle was stopped on northbound Interstate 95 by deputies in neighboring Martin County. Associated Press law enforcement sources confirmed the suspect's name as Ryan Routh, 58, of Greensboro, North Carolina.
Trump had just returned to Mar-a-Lago, the private club where he lives in Palm Beach, from a West Coast swing that included a Friday night rally in Las Vegas and a Utah fundraiser. His campaign had not announced any public plans for Trump on Sunday. He often spends the morning playing golf.
Trump has had a stepped-up security footprint since an assassination attempt on him during a Pennsylvania rally in July. When he is at Trump Tower in New York, parked dump trucks have formed a wall outside the building. At outdoor rallies, he now speaks from behind bulletproof glass.
The golf course, located in Palm Beach about five miles west of Mar-a-Lago, was partially shut down for Trump as he played, but there are several areas around the perimeter of the property where golfers are visible from the fence line.
Secret Service agents and officers in golf carts and on ATVs generally secure the area several holes ahead and behind Trump. Agents also usually bring an armored vehicle onto the course to shelter Trump quickly should a threat arise.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the entire golf course would have been lined with law enforcement if Trump were the president, but because he is not, “security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”
“I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter," Bradshaw said.
Officials said a Secret Service agent saw a barrel sticking out the bushes and "engaged" with a person, who fled. Officials said they found an AK-47 rifle, two backpacks and a GoPro video camera in the same area of bushes.
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said the suspect was apprehended within minutes of the FBI, Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office putting out a “very urgent BOLO” — or “be on the lookout” alert.
Snyder said his deputies “immediately flooded” northbound I-95 and “we pinched in on the car, got it safely stopped and got the driver in custody.”
