Donald Trump assassination attempt as it happened: Suspect identified by Florida Police after shooting at golf course

• Donald Trump was playing golf at his own course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday afternoon (US time).
• Secret Service agents were scoping out the next holes on the golf course when they spotted a gun barrel poking out of the bushes.
• Agents engaged the gunman and fired at least four rounds of ammunition about 1.30pm Florida time (3.30am AEST on Monday).
• The gunman then dropped his rifle, two backpacks and other items and fled.
• Police in a neighbouring county detected the car and apprehended the suspect.
• The suspect has been identified as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh and is now in custody.
• Trump is safe. Secret Service agents took him to a holding room at the club, The Washington Post reported.

With AP

An apparent attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump as he played golf in Florida has rocked a presidential campaign already marred by violence and raised questions about how such a thing could have happened for the second time in as many months.

You can read the latest developments here.

This concludes our live coverage of the suspected attempted assassination of Trump in Florida.

Thank you for reading.

In the two years before the attempted shooting, Ryan Wesley Routh frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website where he sought to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kyiv to join the fight against the Russian invasion.

In April 2022, two months after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Routh, on social media platform X, posted to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky: “I am here in kyiv and want to use Independence Park to create a tent city of all the foreigners here in support to get thousands more foreign civilians to come and support Ukraine ... We can raise great support and equipment.”

Weeks after Russia’s invasion, Routh posted: “I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE”.

US media outlet Semafor reported that, last year, Routh had acted as the leader of a group called the International Volunteer Centre, which sought to bring foreign troops to Ukraine to assist Kyiv.

Semafor cited its own March 7, 2023 interview with Routh in which the American – who is now a suspect in the Florida assassination attempt – expressed frustration with Ukraine over its willingness to accept foreign fighters.

Suspected Trump gunman Ryan Wesley Routh.Credit: LinkedIn

Agencies

New York Times reporter Thomas Gibbons-Neff had been working on a story about foreign fighters and volunteers in Ukraine last year. In the course, of his reporting, he spoke to Ryan Wesley Routh, who Gibbons-Neff said, appeared ill-prepared for his self-selected project of raising an army of Afghan soldiers to fight in Ukraine.

“He talked of buying off corrupt officials, forging passports and doing whatever it takes to get his Afghan cadre to Ukraine, but he had no real way to accomplish his goals,” Gibbons-Neff reported.

Routh, with no military experience whatsoever, proposed arranging a US military plane to transport Afghans from Iraq to Poland.

As The New York Times reporter wrote: “I shook my head. It sounded ridiculous and indeed it was, but the tone in Mr. Routh’s voice said otherwise. He was going to back Ukraine’s war effort, no matter what.”

A brief recap of the attempted assassination of the former president and current presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Ryan Wesley Routh was spotted a few hundred metres from where Trump was playing, law enforcement officials said.

Several Secret Service agents fired on Routh in the bushes near the property line of the golf course located in West Palm Beach, Florida.

The gunman left an AK-47-style assault rifle and other items at the scene and fled in a vehicle and was later arrested in neighbouring Martin County.

With Reuters

While the Secret Service has grappled with how to keep Donald Trump safe as he campaigns across the country, holding rallies that often draw thousands, less attention has focused on his protection when he is off the trail, often at his own clubs and properties.

Then-president Donald Trump photographed through gaps in the shrubbery on the course at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in 2020.Credit: AP

The fact that there are places along the perimeter of the property where golfers – including Trump – are visible to those standing behind the fence has long been known to law enforcement.

While Trump was president, news photographers were often able to capture images of him on the greens by finding gaps in the shrubbery.

And while Trump’s plans to play golf on Sunday were not part of any public schedule, on days he is not campaigning, he can often be found golfing at one of his courses.

Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, about a 10-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago residence, is a favourite.

One of three golf clubs he owns in Florida, it boasts 27 holes of championship golf, as well as event spaces. Trump often eats lunch and holds meetings in the clubhouse between rounds.

AP

A senior adviser for the Trump campaign has posted a comment from Donald Trump on X, thanking the public for its support and statements of concern and adding, “It was certainly an interesting day!”

Trump thanked the Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his office.

“THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN,” he said.

Hello there...

My name is Chris Zappone, digital foreign editor, and I’ll be taking over the live coverage of the second Trump assassination attempt, an extreme development in what has already been an unpredictable US election.

Thank you, Christopher Harris for helming the coverage this morning.

The incident sparked immediate finger-pointing and calls for answers on Capitol Hill.

New York Representative Elise Stefanik, the House Republican Conference chair and a close ally of Donald Trump, said she was grateful the former president was safe. “However, we must ask ourselves how an assassin was allowed to get this close to president Trump again?”

New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik.Credit: AP

The leaders of the bipartisan taskforce that has been investigating the security failures in the Pennsylvania assassination attempt said they were monitoring the situation and had requested a briefing from the Secret Service.

“We are thankful that the former president was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms,” Republican congressmen Mike Kelly and Jason Crow said in a joint statement.

Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s rivals in the GOP primary, said his state would conduct its own investigation.

“The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee,” he wrote in a social media post.

Democratic congressman Ro Khanna echoed that message. “Two assassination attempts in 60 days on a former president & the Republican nominee is unacceptable,” he wrote.

“The Secret Service must come to Congress tomorrow, tell us what resources are needed to expand the protective perimeter, & lets allocate it in a bipartisan vote the same day.”

AP

US Vice President Kamala Harris has released a statement in relation to the Trump assassination attempt on Sunday afternoon and condemned political violence.

This is the statement in full:

I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today. As we gather the facts, I will be clear: I condemn political violence. We all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.

I am thankful that former President Trump is safe. I commend the US Secret Service and law enforcement partners for their vigilance. As President Biden said, our administration will ensure the Secret Service has every resource, capability, and protective measure necessary to carry out its critical mission.

Farrah Tomazin.Credit:

America is an incredible country and a place I now consider my home. But throughout my term as a correspondent here, I’ve seen so many shocking forms of violence that another attempted assassination almost begins to feel normal – and that’s not OK.

Sometimes – albeit all too often – it takes the form of a mass shooting, like the carnage that occurred at a Georgia high school two weeks ago when a teenage gunman opened fire and killed two students and two teachers.

And sometimes it’s too close to home, like one unforgettable night in June 2022 when I walked out of my Washington apartment to see sections of my usually safe street smeared with blood and cordoned off with police tape.

You can read the full analysis of the second Trump assassination attempt from US correspondent Farrah Tomazin here.