Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) said he would launch his own state investigation into the assassination attempt that took place on Sunday at former President Donald Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach.
“The State of Florida will conduct its own investigation into the assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club,” Governor DeSantis said in a post on X on Sunday night. “The public deserves to know the truth about the attempted assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of a former president and current Republican candidate.”
Officials told media that while President Trump was playing golf in West Palm Beach, Secret Service agents at a nearby golf course spotted a man with a rifle pointing around the perimeter of the course, with the rifle pointed in bushes about 300 to 500 yards away.
Secret Service agents fired at the man, who dropped an AK-47-style rifle and fled in a vehicle. Secret Service agents contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office around 1:30 p.m., and authorities immediately ordered the area to be cordoned off, Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said.
A witness took photos of the man's vehicle, and authorities eventually pursued him on Interstate 95 from Palm Beach County toward Martin County and arrested him there, Bradshaw said. An AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro were found in the bushes where the suspect was seen, Bradshaw added.
The Trump campaign and authorities announced soon after the incident that the former president was “safe.”
Authorities have not released the suspect's name, but multiple media outlets have identified him as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old white man with ties to North Carolina and Hawaii. NewsNation reported, citing online records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections, that Routh was convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002.
Palm Beach County State's Attorney Dave Aronberg told NewsNation that Routh had not previously been under police surveillance. NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
The incident came just nine weeks after a gunman opened fire on the former president and attendees at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania. The Republican presidential candidate was speaking at the rally on July 13 when the suspected gunman, Thomas Matthew Crooks, fired a bullet from a nearby roof, striking the former president in the ear and killing one spectator.
Two other spectators were also injured but have since been released from hospital.
The Secret Service has come under intense scrutiny for its security procedures since the July shooting, with lawmakers alleging the agency was not adequately prepared to protect the former president.
Fallout from the Secret Service's preparation for and response to the shooting led Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign in July after a disastrous appearance before Congress to investigate the incident.
Concerns remain among some lawmakers about the Secret Service's ability to provide security, and Sunday's events are already likely to intensify some of those fears.
The House Select Committee investigating the July assassination attempt on Sunday demanded the Secret Service report on what happened and “how security responded” during Sunday's incident.
“While we are grateful that the former president was not harmed, we remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in any form,” task force Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pennsylvania) and ranking member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) wrote on Sunday.
Authorities have yet to determine a motive for the apparent attempt on President Trump's life, but RouthAs social media suggestedHe has been vocal about the war in Ukraine.
The New York TimesI interviewed him.Last year, Routh wrote for The New York Times for a feature story about pro-Ukrainian foreign fighters. The paper said Routh, a native of Greensboro, North Carolina, recruited former Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban and traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to fight for the conflict-hit country.
Law enforcement officials told The Times that Routh had been living in Hawaii prior to Sunday's incident.
