Trump Safe After Shots Fired 'In His Vicinity' at Florida Golf Club, FBI Investigating 'Attempted Assassination'
58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh arrested in ‘attempted assassination of former President Trump’
Former president Donald Trump is safe after multiple shots were fired “in his vicinity” as he golfed at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida, his campaign said Sunday. Law enforcement officials arrested one man, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, in what the FBI described as an “attempted assassination.”
Routh, positioned on the perimeter of the club as Trump finished the fifth hole, stuck his rifle barrel through a fence before he was spotted by a Secret Service agent, who fired at him, according to law enforcement. A witness saw Routh flee and get into a car. He was detained on Interstate 95 shortly after he drove northbound into a neighboring county. Law enforcement officials found an “AK-47 style rifle with a scope,” a GoPro, and two backpacks left behind where he was positioned.
The FBI and Secret Service are investigating the incident, which occurred shortly before 2 p.m.
“The FBI has responded to West Palm Beach Florida and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump,” the agency said Sunday afternoon.
Routh appeared calm as he was arrested, according to local police. He is a vocal Trump opponent, having exclusively donated to Democrats and regularly posted anti-Trump sentiments, the New York Post reported. Routh, for example, said on social media that “Democracy is on the ballot” in November and “we cannot lose,” echoing rhetoric from President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. He also said Trump wants to “make Americans slaves against master.”
Routh has a lengthy criminal record—a man with his name and similar age was arrested in 2002 in North Carolina for barricading himself inside a building with an automatic weapon, according to the New York Times. He also spoke violently of the war in Ukraine, writing on social media, “I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE.” When the Times interviewed him in 2023 about volunteering to help the war effort, he threatened an “American foreign fighter” who “seemed to talk down to him” in a Facebook message. “He needs to be shot,” Routh said.
Trump was injured in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on July 13, just months ahead of the highly contested November election. The first shooting of a U.S. president or major party presidential candidate in more than four decades was a glaring security lapse that forced Kimberly Cheatle to resign as Secret Service director under bipartisan congressional pressure. Trump was shot in the right ear and one rallygoer was killed in the gunfire. The gunman, identified as a 20-year-old Thomas Crooks, was shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper.
In the wake of the shooting, top Democrats called for “unity” and cooler political rhetoric. Shortly after the Sunday incident, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) tweeted, “Extreme MAGA Republicans are the party of a national abortion ban and Trump’s Project 2025. We must stop them.” He followed that message up two hours later with a post stating, “Political violence has no place in a democratic society.”
Rachel Vindman, the sister-in-law of Virginia Democratic congressional nominee and former Trump whistleblower Eugene Vindman, joked about both assassination attempts on Sunday. “No ears were harmed. Carry on with your Sunday afternoon,” she tweeted. She also issued a follow-up post, though hers did not denounce violence.
“Sorry you’re triggered,” Vindman wrote. “I mean no I’m not. I don’t care a little bit.”
The White House said in a statement that Biden and Harris had been briefed about the incident and would be “kept regularly updated by their team.”
This is a developing story and will be updated with additional information.