16 September 2024 , 08:28
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The suspected gunman taking aim at Donald Trump with an AK-47 in an ‘apparent assassination attempt’ has been identified.
He was golfing at Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach in Florida at about 2pm local time on Sunday when multiple shots were fired.
US Secret Service agents opened fire after seeing a person with a firearm near the golf club.
The suspect has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58.
The suspect fled in an SUV and has since been arrested by police in nearby Martin County after the vehicle was stopped on the Interstate 95 near Palm City, about 45 miles north of the golf course.
Ryan Wesley Routh has been named as the suspect behind Donald Trump’s second assassination attempt (Picture: AFP)
Trump’s campaign communications director Steven Cheung said ‘President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity’.
The golf course had been shut down while Trump played, and agents were a few holes ahead of him when they saw the person with the firearm allegedly push the gun through the fence line.
Pictures show an AK-47 rifle, a backpack and a Go-Pro camera on a fence outside Trump International Golf Club (Picture: AP)
The US Secret Service said it is investigating the incident alongside the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said no injuries were reported, and law enforcement officials say an AK-style firearm has been found close to the golf course.
It’s not yet known if the gunshots were targeted at Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
It comes just over two months after he was shot during an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania, injuring his ear, on July 13.
Trump’s golf club is located about five miles from his Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach.
Who is the suspect Ryan Wesley Routh?
Routh has been named as a potential suspect in the incident.
He was reportedly calm and emotionless when he was apprehended yesterday, MailOnline reports.
Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder said he was not ‘displaying a lot of emotions’ and ‘never asked’ any questions when he was being detained.
Routh, a general contractor, is reportedly a registered Democrat who has called for foreign fighters to travel to Ukraine.
He told the New York Times in 2023 he had travelled to Ukraine after Russia invaded to find military recruits among Afghan soldiers who had escaped the Taliban, the BBC reports.
His social media shows he repeated anti-police rhetoric while posting under both ‘BlackLivesMatter’ and ‘AllLivesMatter’ hashtags.
In 2002, he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, MailOnline reports citing North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records.
His social media has revealed he moved from voting for Trump in 2016 to supporting Tulsi Gabbard in 2020.
This year, he has demanded that Nikky Haley – a former Republican Party presidential candidate in the primary race – and Vivek Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, form a unity team.
His son Oran Routh rushed to defend his father, saying he is not violent and he thought he didn’t even own a gun.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘I don’t like Trump either.
‘He’s my dad and all he’s had is couple traffic tickets, as far as I know.
‘That’s crazy. I know my dad and love my dad, but that’s nothing like him.’
Oran said his dad moved to Hawaii a couple of years ago where he lived with his longtime girlfriend. He said he wasn’t aware his father was in Florida, the outlet reports.
He said: ‘He said he was at the beach, but I thought that meant the outer banks in Hawaii.
‘I didn’t ask him for more information because we’ve had a falling out. We’ve grown apart.’