By OAN Staff Member Sofia Flores
Monday, September 16, 2024 5:06 PM
At a press conference on Monday in West Palm Beach, Florida, authorities provided an update on the second assassination attempt on the 45th.Number The life of President Donald Trump.
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Before going into details about the assassination attempt, Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw insisted in a statement that security at Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort was and remains the “highest possible” following Sunday's second assassination attempt.
Officials also made sure Trump knew that a golf session he played that day at Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, was “private” and not included in the schedule available for public viewing.
Secret Service agents were in front of where Trump was shooting when suddenly, agents spotted an AK-type rifle protruding from the fence and quickly returned fire.
Although gunshots were indeed heard, Sheriff Bradshaw clarified that the suspect “was not even close to firing the shot.”
After shots were fired from the Secret Service gun, suspect Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, fled the scene in a vehicle. He left a loaded AK-style rifle with a scope on the course fence, as well as a digital camera, a backpack and a black bag containing food. Routh was arrested a short time later.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said cellphone data showed Routh was near the golf course for about 12 hours before agents spotted him and opened fire.
Routh has a lengthy criminal history dating back to the 1990s. North Carolina Department of Corrections records show he was charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, a felony, in 2002. In a separate incident, he was charged with multiple misdemeanors, including hit-and-run, resisting arrest and a concealed weapons violation.
At the end of the press conference, Sheriff Bradshaw said Trump called him on Sunday night and “expressed his gratitude.” [him] For everything we did with the Secret Service.”
“He knows we did a great job together and he feels safe, and that's important because he's safe. And what we did yesterday proves that the system works,” Bradshaw said. “The suspects didn't even come close to firing a shot, and yet we arrested them and we brought them to justice, so we're very proud of that.”
This second assassination attempt came just 50 days before Donald Trump faces Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
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