Trump Safe After What FBI Describes as an Assassination Attempt

MIAMI — Former President Donald Trump was playing golf Sunday afternoon in Florida when a Secret Service agent spotted a man with a rifle standing by a chain-link fence on the perimeter of the course, law enforcement officials said.

The agents opened fire, and the man fled in a black Nissan but was eventually taken into custody, the officials said.

Trump was safe and unharmed, but the FBI said it was investigating the episode as an apparent attempted assassination, the second one against the former president in just over two months. Trump was wounded in a previous attempt during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

The suspected gunman was identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, according to a law enforcement official who was granted anonymity to describe an open investigation.

The episode unfolded around 1:30 p.m. Sunday as Trump was golfing at the Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County said at a news briefing.

A Secret Service agent standing a hole or two away from Trump saw the armed man hiding in the shrubbery by a fence at the perimeter of the course, according to Bradshaw. The Secret Service fired at the man, said Rafael Barros, the special agent in charge of the Secret Service’s Miami field office, though it was not immediately clear if the suspect had fired any shots.

Trump was perhaps 400 yards away from the armed man, Bradshaw said.

An AK-47-style rifle with a scope was found near the property line, along with two backpacks that were hung on the fence. The backpacks contained ceramic tile, and investigators also found a video camera, the sheriff said, adding that investigators believed that the man may have intended to film the shooting.

“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a statement.

A witness saw the armed man flee from the bushes to a black Nissan, the sheriff said. The witness took a photo of the car and shared it with law enforcement officials. The man was stopped driving northbound on Interstate 95 after crossing into Martin County.

Law enforcement officials are running a trace to determine who bought the gun and where it was sold, according to two officials with knowledge of the situation.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .