Everything to know about apparent assassination attempt on Trump : NPR

Former President Donald Trump was focused in what “seems to be an tried assassination” on Sunday afternoon, the FBI says. A suspect — Ryan Wesley Routh — is in custody after being recognized as a person seen with a rifle at Trump’s golf membership in West Palm Seashore, Fla.

The incident started round 1:30 p.m. ET on the Trump Worldwide golf course the place the previous president was taking part in; it ended miles away after Routh’s automobile was noticed on Interstate 95. It occurred two months after Trump was wounded in an assassination try in Butler, Pa.

Right here’s a rundown of the information which can be recognized to date:

The suspect now faces federal gun expenses

Routh appeared in a federal courtroom in West Palm Seashore on Monday, the place he was charged with two gun-related offenses: possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial quantity.

Routh, who was represented by a federal public defender, advised federal choose Ryon McCabe that he has no financial savings to pay for his protection. Sporting a blue jail jumpsuit and shackles, he additionally stated he has a 25-year-old son.

Agreeing with prosecutors’ request, the choose ordered Routh to stay in custody till a proper arraignment on Sept. 30.

Routh’s cellphone supplier supplied knowledge suggesting that he had been within the neighborhood of the golf course encounter for practically 12 hours, from 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m., in response to a prison criticism filed in federal courtroom on Monday.

After Routh was apprehended, native prosecutors filed warrants and a pretrial detention movement to make sure he would stay in custody forward of seemingly federal expenses, Dave Aronberg, state lawyer for Palm Seashore County, stated on Sunday.

A Secret Service agent noticed a gun

As Trump moved by the golf course on Sunday, so did a “bubble” of safety that the Secret Service extends round him. An agent who was forward of Trump on the course “was in a position to spot this rifle barrel protruding of the fence and instantly have interaction that particular person, at which era the person took off,” Palm Seashore County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw stated.

The weapon was noticed in an space of the golf course the place three holes — 5, 6 and seven — flip a nook near an intersection the place two massive roads meet: S. Congress Ave. and Summit Blvd.

From his vantage level, the suspect may view two holes on the course, Bradshaw stated.

Brokers fired on the suspect

“U.S. Secret Service personnel opened fireplace on a gunman situated close to the property line,” Rafael Barros, particular agent answerable for the Miami subject workplace, stated at a information convention. The brokers fired 4 to 6 rounds as they shot on the suspect from an extended distance, he added. As of Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t clear whether or not the suspect had additionally fired his weapon, Barros stated.

The suspect fled in a automobile and headed towards I-95, lower than two miles to the east. He headed north

Barros stated that Trump was “protected and unhurt, following a protecting incident.”

Whereas Bradshaw predicted Trump’s future golf outings would possibly draw extra safety, he additionally counseled the Secret Service’s actions, stating, “They offered precisely what the safety ought to have been and their agent did a improbable job.”

A rifle was left on the scene

“Within the bushes the place this man was, is an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks which have been held on the fence that had ceramic tile in them and a GoPro” digital camera, Bradshaw stated, noting that the suspect was seemingly intent on filming what befell.

The weapon was recognized as an SKS-style rifle — its design barely predates the AK-47 — in response to the prison criticism in opposition to Routh. Each weapons use the identical 7.62 x 39 mm rounds, and the SKS was notably utilized by Viet Cong snipers within the Vietnam Struggle, in response to the Violence Coverage Middle.

The middle provides that an SKS-style gun was utilized in two high-profile assaults prior to now decade: one at a baseball subject the place members of Congress performed in 2017; and one other at a Deliberate Parenthood clinic in Colorado in 2015. The June 2017 assault on a Congressional baseball sport apply in Alexandria, Va., left 5 wounded, together with then-Home Majority Whip Steve Scalise and two Capitol Cops.

On the time of Sunday’s encounter, Trump was one or two holes away — “most likely between [300] and 500 yards” from the suspect’s location, Bradshaw stated. “However with a rifle and a scope like that, that is not an extended distance,” he added.

Images from the scene depict what seems to be to be an improvised sniper’s nest, with backpacks hung subsequent to one another on the fence with an area in between them. The position of ceramic tiles suggests the suspect seemingly supposed them to offer armor in opposition to any incoming gunfire.

A witness took an image of the suspect’s license plate

Police converged on the golf course after the Secret Service reported pictures fired.

Bradshaw says regulation enforcement then bought a giant break: “Fortuitously, we have been in a position to find a witness that got here to us and stated, ‘Hey, I noticed the man operating out of the bushes. He jumped right into a black Nissan and I took an image of the automobile and the tag’ — which was nice.”

A license-plate reader system reported that the automobile was on I-95, driving north towards close by Martin County. The sheriff’s workplace in that county then pulled the Nissan SUV over round 2:14 p.m. and arrested Routh after the witness recognized him because the suspect from the golf course, in response to courtroom data. Routh, 58, allegedly stated that he knew why he was being pulled over; he was booked into the county jail.

The license plate on Routh’s Nissan belonged to a different automobile — a white Ford pickup whose tag was reported stolen — in response to the prison criticism.

Routh is a former Trump supporter and a supporter of Ukraine

Routh spent a lot of his maturity in North Carolina earlier than shifting to Hawaii in 2018. He owns a enterprise that builds moveable storage models and tiny houses on Oahu. His digital footprint depicts Routh as a disillusioned former Trump supporter who backs Ukraine in its struggle in opposition to Russia.

Routh has an prolonged prison historical past, together with a conviction on a felony cost of possessing a weapon of mass destruction in 2002, reportedly associated to a completely computerized machine gun. Public data record him because the defendant in a number of courtroom instances, on issues from unhealthy checks to tax delinquencies. Between 2001 and 2010, he was additionally charged with quite a few misdemeanors.

North Carolina voting data present Routh voted within the latest Democratic main election there, however he’s listed as unaffiliated with any occasion. He has written on social media — and in a self-published 2023 guide — about voting for Trump in 2016 and regretting it.

Federal Election Fee data present Routh donated to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue practically 20 occasions, in quantities starting from $1 to $25, between September 2019 and March 2020.

Trump, Harris and Biden reply to the obvious assassination scheme

“There have been gunshots in my neighborhood, however earlier than rumors begin spiraling uncontrolled, I needed you to listen to this primary: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” Trump stated in an announcement despatched out by his marketing campaign on Sunday afternoon.

He pledged to not decelerate his campaigning, and he later thanked the Secret Service and native regulation enforcement for his or her actions.

Trump’s opponent within the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, condemned political violence, saying on Sunday that she was “deeply disturbed by the doable assassination try of former President Trump immediately.”

“I’m grateful that former President Trump is protected,” Harris stated. “I commend the U.S. Secret Service and regulation enforcement companions for his or her vigilance.”

In an occasion on Monday, President Biden additionally condemned political violence and “the tried assassination in opposition to our former president,” saying the poll field, not a gun, is how America resolves variations.

The president stated that Ronald L. Rowe Jr., the appearing head of the Secret Service, “is in Florida immediately, assessing what occurred and figuring out whether or not any additional changes should be made to make sure the security of our former president.”

Late Sunday evening, Trump thanked those that wished him nicely, saying by way of Fact Social, “It was definitely an attention-grabbing day!”

NPR deputy nationwide editor Russell Lewis contributed to this report.