The FBI is investigating another potential assassination attempt on disgraced former President Donald Trump after a man pointed a rifle toward the golf course where the former president was playing in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
The incident occurred on the same day Trump posted ‘I hate Taylor Swift’ on his Truth Social platform and his running mate said he had no regrets for propagating fake stories about Haitian migrants.
A suspect whom authorities have not yet identified, is in custody and Trump was unharmed, but President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, responded to the reported shooting saying that they are “relieved to know that he is safe.”
“The President and Vice President have been briefed about the security incident 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,” said the White House statement.
“I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America,” said Harris in a social media post.
About 1:30 p.m., a Secret Service agent a few holes ahead of Trump spotted a rifle muzzle at the tree-lined border of the course and opened fire, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.
The gunman fled in a car, leaving behind an AK-47-style rifle, two backpacks and a camera, Bradshaw said. A witness helped identify the car’s license plates, and officers intercepted the suspect on the highway.
Officials said that the full golf course wasn’t cordoned off because Trump is not currently an elected official.
“If he was (in office), we would have had the entire golf course surrounded,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. “Because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”
Bradshaw said a shooter armed with a rifle with a scope was 300 to 500 yards away when he fired at Trump, who was around the fifth hole on the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Martin County deputies arrested a suspect while Trump was held temporarily at the golf club and later moved to his nearby Mar-a-Lago estate.
Bradshaw said a U.S. Secret Service agent saw the barrel of the rifle and returned fire. According to the FBI, the shooting appeared to be an assassination attempt against Trump.
“He was in an area in the shrubbery,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said about the shooter’s position.
Bradshaw said a witness told Palm Beach deputies the suspect ran out of the bushes and fled in a black Nissan sports utility vehicle. The witness took a picture of the SUV with the tag.
Before the news conference, Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder said his department’s deputies arrested the suspect west of Interstate 95 near Palm City after the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office released a be on the lookout or BOLO alert for the vehicle.
Snyder said Martin County deputies stopped a black Nissan sports utility vehicle the suspect was driving.
“There was a lone driver in the vehicle. That driver is now in custody,” Snyder said adding he was “relatively calm” and “not displaying a lot of emotions.”
Snyder said Florida Highway Patrol troopers closed Interstate 95 northbound and there was a crash involving civilians because of the suspect’s traffic stop. Snyder also said Martin County deputies were working with the U.S. Secret Service, the FBI, and the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office.
“The FBI will take that car, we will transport it for them back to Palm Beach,” Snyder said.
The shooting Sunday was about two months after the U.S. Secret Service killed a man who also fired a rifle during an assassination attempt against Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. The bullet grazed Trump’s ear.
Bradshaw said deputies seized the weapon, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera that the shooter left behind at the golf club’s chain-link fence in West Palm Beach.
The FBI is the lead agency in the investigation into the shooting in Palm Beach and agents asked anyone with information to visit this site to submit a tip or call 1-800-225-5324.