For the second time in two months, Donald Trump got targeted for an assassination, and for the second time survived it. The FBI confirmed the intent to target the former president on his own golf course in Florida. The Secret Service spotted the suspect and opened fire, according to early reports, and Trump did not get hit during the incident.
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An eyewitness spotted the suspect fleeing and called in the plate number of his vehicle. As always with breaking news stories, remember that details may change as facts emerge:
The FBI said Donald Trump was the target of “what appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life. The former president said he was safe and well.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the U.S. Secret Service agents fired at a man pointing an AK-style rifle with a scope as Trump was on the course. Bradshaw said the gunman also had two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera, and that he was about 400 yards to 500 yards away from Trump and hiding in shrubbery while the former president played golf on a nearby hole. The person dropped the weapon and fled in an SUV, and was later taken into custody in a neighboring county.
According to a press conference held a short while ago, Trump's Secret Service detail on the golf course includes agents that approach the tees ahead of Trump. Those agents saw the barrel of the rifle poking through a fence or through the bushes and opened fire on the position:
The gunman apparently wanted to get video of the assassination attempt. Roll that one around in your mind for a while.
As of now, the suspect hasn't been named, but the FBI and Secret Service are pretty convinced they have the right man. The question will be whether this is part of a conspiracy or if this is a lone nut. The use of a GoPro suggests the latter, but after two of these, you'd better believe they will be looking verrry closely at associations, bank accounts, and communications with phones and computers.
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Trump told Lindsey Graham that he felt secure and safe:
In an interview, Senator Lindsey Graham said he had spoken to former President Donald Trump. “He said, ‘They took me off the course because there were shots fired,’” Graham said. He said the former president added that he had “500 cops” around him and told him he was OK. Graham recalled that Trump expressed gratitude for his Secret Service detail. “‘These people are awesome,’” the senator recalled the former president as saying.
That's all we know at the moment. If there's more that comes up today, we'll update as necessary.
Update: NBC News reports that three sources have identified the suspect as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh. Several people are trying to locate Routh's social media accounts, but I'd be very leery about accepting these at face value yet. I've seen screen grabs from two or more different Twitter accounts, for instance. We can let the FBI let us know which accounts are legit.
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