What we know about the attack on Trump and the suspect

Former President Donald Trump was evacuated to safety on Sunday after an apparent assassination attempt took place at Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, according to the FBI.

The incident occurred almost exactly two months after a shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, that left Trump injured and a supporter killed.

Further details about the latest incident and the suspect, named by US media as Ryan Routh, are still being released. Here's what we know so far.

The incident occurred at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, about 15 minutes from Trump's Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.

The shooter was first spotted by Secret Service agents who were searching the court in front of the former president as he played. Police say agents usually go one hole over to conduct security checks.

The muzzle of a rifle – County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw initially described it as an AK-47-style rifle – was sticking out of the bushes at the edge of the trail. Trump was about 300-600 yards from the shooter at the time, he said.

An agent immediately dealt with the person with the gun, who then fled, Sheriff Bradshaw said.

“The Secret Service did exactly what needed to be done.”

When the agents spotted the shooter, they opened fire, firing four to five rounds of ammunition.

The suspect dropped the rifle and fled in a vehicle, leaving the weapon behind along with two backpacks, a rifle scope and a GoPro camera, Sheriff Bradshaw said.

A witness saw the man flee from the bushes to a black Nissan, the sheriff said. The witness took a photo of the car and handed it over to police officers.

The suspect was arrested by police as he headed north on I-95 after crossing the Martin County line, about 34 miles from Trump's golf course.

Multiple law enforcement sources have told BBC's US partner, CBS News, that the suspect's name is Ryan Wesley Routh.

Details about the suspect's past are slowly coming to light.

In an interview with US media, Routh's son Oran described him as a “loving and caring father”.

“I don't know what happened in Florida and I hope things were just blown out of proportion because from what little I've heard, it doesn't sound like the man I know would do anything crazy, let alone violent,” Oran said in a statement to CNN.

BBC Verify has found social media profiles matching this name, suggesting that Routh has called for foreign fighters to go to Ukraine to fight against Russian forces.

His profile also contains pro-Palestinian, pro-Taiwanese and anti-Chinese messages, including claims of Chinese “biological warfare” and suggestions that the Covid-19 virus is an “attack.”

Mr. Routh, who had no military experience, told the New York Times in 2023 that he traveled to Ukraine immediately after Russia's invasion in 2022 to find military recruits among Afghan soldiers fleeing the Taliban.

“We can probably buy some passports through Pakistan since it is such a corrupt country,” he said.

Routh also told the Times that he had a “two-hour” meeting in Washington DC with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe to help secure more support for Ukraine.

As recently as this summer, he appears to have been involved in recruitment efforts, writing on Facebook in July: “Soldiers, please do not call me. We are still trying to get Ukraine to accept Afghan soldiers and hope to get some answers in the coming months…please be patient.”

Initial reports indicate that Mr. Routh had a criminal record. According to CBS sources, Ryan Routh was charged and convicted of numerous crimes in Guilford County, North Carolina between 2002 and 2010.

Crimes include carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest by a police officer, driving without a license, possession of stolen property, and hit and run.

Trump was not injured in the incident. His campaign team initially stated that there had been “shots fired near him.”

Shortly after the incident was confirmed by his campaign team, the Republican issued a statement to his fundraiser saying, “There was a shooting near me, but before the rumor mill gets out of control, I want you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND I AM FINE.”

In a later campaign email, Trump was quoted as saying, “His resolve only grew stronger after yet another attempt on my life.”

During the same press conference, Jeffrey Veltri of the FBI's Miami field office said the FBI is leading the investigation along with other law enforcement agencies.

“We have deployed a number of resources, including investigative teams, members of the crisis response team, bomb technicians and members of the evidence disposal team,” Veltri said, adding that the “full resources of the FBI” have been mobilized along with the U.S. Secret Service, the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office and the Martin County Sheriff's Office.

The White House said President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, had been briefed on the incident and were relieved to learn that he was OK.

“Violence has no place in America,” Harris said in a social media post.

Representatives of the bipartisan congressional task force investigating the July 13 assassination attempt in Pennsylvania said they were grateful that the former president was not harmed. “But they remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all its forms.”

Republican Congressman Mike Kelly and Democrat Jason Crow said the task force had requested a meeting with the Secret Service to understand “what happened and how security forces responded.”

Rafael Barros of the Secret Service told reporters on Sunday that measures had been taken since the last attack and that “the threat level is high.”