A man suspected of hiding under cover of darkness for nearly 12 hours in an apparent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course was charged with two gun-related crimes on Monday (September 16), a day after authorities say he was spotted in the bushes with a rifle as the former U.S. president played nearby.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election, was unharmed. But the incident raised fresh questions about how an armed suspect was able to get so close to him, just two months after another gunman fired at Trump during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing his ear with a bullet.
Trump's visit to his golf course in West Palm Beach was not on his public schedule, Acting U.S. Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters on Monday afternoon, and it was not clear whether the suspect knew Trump would be there.
The Secret Service opened fire after an agent sweeping the course saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes a few hundred yards away from the former president, who was on the fairway of the fifth hole.
The gunman fled in a sports utility vehicle, according to the complaint. Officers found a loaded assault-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food left behind.
A suspect, identified on Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later driving north on Interstate 95. When asked if he knew why he had been stopped, Routh "responded in the affirmative," according to the complaint. The license plate on his vehicle had been reported stolen from another car.
Records show a phone associated with Routh was located at the golf course starting at 1:59 a.m. (0559 GMT) on Sunday morning, 11-1/2 hours before the incident.
The suspect was on the "public side" of a fence along the golf course's boundary, Rowe said at a news conference on Monday afternoon. He did not have a line of sight to Trump and did not fire any shots, Rowe said.
Routh was the subject of a 2019 tip to the FBI alleging that he was a convicted felon who illegally possessed a firearm, Jeffrey Veltri, the agent in charge of the FBI's Miami field office, told reporters.
The complainant was unable to verify the information when the FBI investigated the tip, Veltri said.
The Secret Service, which protects U.S. presidents, presidential candidates and other high-level dignitaries, has been under intense scrutiny since the earlier attempt on Trump's life.
(Production: Maria Alejandra Cardona, Arlene Eiras)
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18 сен 2024
