Federal authorities are investigating an incident at Donald Trump’s golf club in Florida on Sunday that ‘appears to be an assassination attempt’.
Rafael Barros, the special agent in charge of Miami, told a news conference that Secret Service agents ‘opened fire on an armed individual who was near the property line’ of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, adding that the agency was ‘not sure if the person in custody fired at our agents’.
Trump, who was golfing at the club at the time, was unharmed.
According to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, a Secret Service agent saw the suspect enter the golf course through the fence with a rifle and immediately fired at the man before he fled the scene. Bradshaw said Trump was 300 to 500 yards away from the suspect.
Bradshaw said law enforcement later found an AK-47-style rifle with a scope in the bushes. Two backpacks containing ceramic tiles and a GoPro camera were also found hanging from a chain-link fence. Bradshaw said the suspect was ‘intent on filming the whole thing’.
Bradshaw said a witness saw the suspect flee in a black Nissan and took photos of the vehicle and the number plate. The suspect was later stopped in the vehicle and taken into custody by authorities on Interstate 95 in neighbouring Martin County.
The FBI said in a statement that it was ‘investigating what appears to be an assassination attempt on former President Trump’. According to Bradshaw, the incident occurred around 1:30 p.m. The Palm Beach County State Attorney said prosecutors had issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest.
Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement less than an hour after the incident that the former president ‘was safe after shots were heard in his vicinity’. Trump was taken inside the golf club.
Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, senior advisers to the Trump campaign, sent an email to campaign staff urging them to be ‘vigilant’ in their ‘daily comings and goings’.
President Trump and all of his entourage are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,’ the email said.
Asked how the breach had occurred, Bradshaw said Trump was ‘not a sitting president’ and that security was not as tight as it would be for a sitting president.
If he were, we’d have the entire golf course surrounded, but he’s not, so security is limited to areas the Secret Service deems possible,’ Bradshaw said.
Kamala Harris, Trump’s rival in the election, said in a statement that she was ‘deeply troubled by the possible assassination attempt on former President Trump today’.
“As the facts unfold, I will be clear: I condemn political violence, and we must all do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to further violence,” Harris said.
On the other hand, Republicans took action against the rhetoric against Trump, who has reportedly been attacked twice in two months.
Republican Representative Mike Waltz told Fox News on Sunday: “This rhetoric about President Trump, this rhetoric about him being the next dictator, the next Hitler, has got to stop. Enough is enough. When you get rhetoric from the left, from the media, even from elected officials that Trump has to be stopped at all costs, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that these people are radicalised and mobilised in this way,” he said.
Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk X said: “They’re going to keep trying to kill Trump. This is just the beginning. This will only end if we win in November,” he wrote.
