by Dan McCaleb
US Secret Service agents shot and later arrested a man with an AK-47 near Donald Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday afternoon as Trump was on the course. The FBI said it was investigating the incident as an assassination attempt on the former president, the second in two months.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference that the Secret Service notified local authorities that shots had been fired around 1:30 p.m. Sunday. A Secret Service agent who was monitoring the golf course one hole ahead of Trump saw a man with a rifle pointing through a chain-link fence near the brush surrounding the course, Bradshaw said. The agent fired shots at the suspected shooter, who was about 300 to 500 yards away from the former president. Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, was quickly transported back to the clubhouse in a golf cart and was not injured.
A witness told authorities he saw a gunman flee the scene into a car and was able to get the car’s license plate number, Bradshaw said. Agents were able to locate the vehicle and arrest the suspect, Bradshaw said. He remains in custody. No other details about the suspect have been released.
“Luckily, we were able to get a witness who came to us and said, ‘Hey, I saw a guy running out of the bushes. He jumped in a black Nissan and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tank,’ which was great,” the sheriff said. “So we had that information … we gave it to the license plate readers and we were able to get a hold of that vehicle on I-95 heading into Martin County. We contacted the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, notified them, and they saw the vehicle, pulled it over and took the guy into custody.”
Authorities found a rifle, a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro camera in the bushes where the attacker was hiding.
“The FBI has assumed the role of lead federal law enforcement agency in the investigation of the incident that occurred this morning at Trump International Golf Course here in West Palm Beach, Florida,” Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami Field Office, said at a news conference. “We have deployed a range of resources, including investigative teams, emergency response team members, bomb technicians and evidence response team members.”
Asset he said Fox News reported that he was on the fifth hole when he heard the shots.
“Tell everybody I’m fine and the Secret Service did a great job,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
The West Palm Beach Golf Club is less than five miles from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.
Bradshaw said if Trump were the sitting president, there would be more security around the golf course.
Sunday’s incident comes two months after Trump was targeted assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa. Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet during a shooting in Pennsylvania just two days before the Republican National Convention began. A suspect in an earlier assassination attempt was shot and killed at the scene.
The Secret Service has been widely criticized for its lax security post-Pennsylvania ordeal. Kimberly Cheatle, director of the U.S. Secret Service, resigned under intense pressure.
DEVELOPING
– – –
Dan McCaleb is editor-in-chief Central Square.
