Former President Donald Trump is safe following gunshots “in his vicinity” on his Florida golf course and a “potential suspect” is now in custody, law enforcement officials say.
Secret Service agents saw a man pointing a rifle at the golf course in West Palm Beach and opened fire at him, the officials told reporters.
The FBI said it appeared to be an assassination attempt. Trump was “several hundred yards” away at the time, the officials said.
A witness reported seeing the suspect running from some bushes and jumping into a black Nissan car after the agents had fired at him multiple times. The witness took a picture of the vehicle and it was stopped later in Martin County, north of the club.
An AK47-style gun and scope, along with two backpacks and a GoPro camera, were found in the bushes at the scene.
In an email to his supporters, Trump said he was “safe and well”.
“Nothing will slow me down,” he wrote. “I will never surrender!”
The incident comes almost exactly two months after a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking his ear.
The Secret Service confirmed in a post on X that they were investigating a “protective incident” involving Trump that took place shortly before 14:00 EST (19:00 BST) on Sunday.
The White House said President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris had been briefed about the incident that they said took place at the Trump International Golf Course, “where former President Trump was golfing”.
“They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team,” the White House said.
Harris posted on X that she had been briefed on the matter and was glad Trump was unharmed. “Violence has no place in America,” she wrote.
Trump was injured while addressing a crowd in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July when a gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired at him with an AR-15–style rifle from the roof of a nearby building.
The shooting left one audience member dead, while Crooks, 20, was killed at the scene by a Secret Service sniper.
The Secret Service faced intense scrutiny over how the shooter from Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, was able to open fire on the former president.
The director of the Kimberly Cheatle, resigned within two weeks of the incident.
Source: BBC
