Trump safe after suspected assassination attempt; man with Hawaii connections arrested

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was safe on Sunday after the Secret Service foiled what the FBI said was an apparent assassination attempt while he was playing golf at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Several Secret Service agents fired at a gunman in the bushes near the golf course's property line after he was spotted a few hundred yards from Trump's playground, police officials said.

The suspect left an AK-47 assault rifle and other items at the scene, fled in a vehicle and was later arrested.

The alleged assassination attempt on Trump occurred just two months after he was shot at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, suffering a minor injury to his right ear.

Both incidents highlight the difficulty of ensuring the safety of presidential candidates in a hotly contested and polarized election campaign seven weeks before the November 5 election.

“I want to thank everyone for their concern and well wishes – it has certainly been an interesting day!” Trump said on social media late Sunday, thanking the Secret Service and police for their safety.

CNN, Fox News and the New York Times, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. Late Sunday, Secret Service and Department of Homeland Security agents searched a home in Greensboro, North Carolina, that a neighbor said belonged to Routh.

RELATED: The man arrested for an alleged assassination attempt on Trump lived in Hawaii, North Carolina

The attempted attack certainly raises new questions about the level of protection Trump enjoys. When asked by a reporter, officials acknowledged that the entire golf course was not cordoned off because Trump is out of office.

“If he was, we would have had the entire golf course surrounded,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said during Sunday's press conference. “Since he is not, security is limited to the areas the Secret Service believes are possible.”

Shortly after the incident, Trump sent an email to his supporters saying, “Nothing will stop me. I will NEVER SURRENDER!”

President Joe Biden later said he had directed his team to ensure the Secret Service has the resources needed to ensure Trump's safety, according to a White House statement.

Alleged suspect Ryan Routh had traveled to Ukraine after Russia's invasion in 2022, where he told reporters he wanted to help recruit foreign fighters for Kyiv's cause after being turned down because he himself was too old to volunteer.

“Many other conflicts are grey, but this conflict is definitely black and white. It's about good versus evil,” Routh said in a video interview published by Newsweek Romania in June 2022. “If governments don't send their official military, we civilians have to take up the torch and make things work. We've brought some wonderful people here, but it's only a small fraction of the number that should be here.”

With clear emotion, he pleaded with the camera in a T-shirt with symbols of the American flag and called on people around the world to stand up “for humanity, for human rights, for everything good in the world” by supporting the country in the war.

Ryan Routh's profiles on X, Facebook and LinkedIn also contained support for Ukraine. Reuters could not confirm that these were the suspect's accounts, and law enforcement authorities declined to comment. However, public access to the Facebook and X profiles was blocked hours after the shooting.

Adam, the suspected gunman's son, who was reached by Reuters at the hardware store where he works in Hawaii, said he had not heard of the attack and had “no information.” He did not believe his father would do such a thing.

Later, a reporter called back and a colleague said Adam had gone home because of an emergency.

Bradshaw said a Secret Service agent protecting Trump saw the muzzle of a rifle sticking out of bushes about 400 to 500 yards from the former president as they cleared holes of potential threats before Trump's game.

Agents confronted the gunman and fired at least four rounds around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

The gunman dropped his rifle, left two backpacks and other items behind and fled in a black Nissan. The sheriff said a witness saw the gunman and managed to take photos of his car and license plate before he fled.

Sheriff's officials in neighboring Martin County arrested the suspect on I-95 about 40 miles from the golf course.

The White House said in a statement that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed and were relieved to know he was safe.

In the presidential election, Trump is neck and neck with Harris, who has risen sharply in the polls since she replaced Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee in July.

“Violence has no place in America,” Harris said in a post on X.

Earlier this year, Routh warned in a post on X that democracy in the United States was at stake in the upcoming election.

Harris has repeatedly warned that another Trump term would threaten U.S. democracy and pledged unwavering support to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. When asked in a debate last week if he wanted Ukraine to win the war, Trump said he wanted it to end it.

Trump suffered a graze in the right ear and a participant at the July 13 rally in Pennsylvania was killed by gunfire.

It was the first shooting of a US president or a presidential candidate of one of the major parties in more than four decades. The security breach forced Kimberly Cheatle to resign as Director of the Secret Service under pressure from both parties in Congress.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated as more information becomes available.