FBI investigating attempted assassination of Trump at golf club
Trump campaign says former president is safe, back home at Mar-a-Lago
Updated on Sept. 15 at 5:20 p.m. ET: Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County held a joint press conference with FBI and Secret Service officials Sunday, hours after a man attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump at his golf course in Florida.
Bradshaw said at the briefing held just before 5 p.m. Eastern time that Secret Service issued a call of shots fired at 1:30 p.m. at Trump International Golf Club when an agent shot at an attempted assassin brandishing an AK-47 in the bushes at a fence line surrounding the golf course.
The Secret Service agent, who was part of an advance team securing the area one or two holes ahead of the president, spotted the muzzle of a rifle and fired shots at the gunman, who was between 300 to 500 yards away from Trump, according to Bradshaw. Given the gunman’s location, he had a clear line of sight of the fifth, sixth and seventh holes, the sheriff added.
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Bradshaw said law enforcement agencies were aided by a witness who also saw the suspect and identified the gunman and getaway vehicle as a black Nissan. The witness also took a photo of the vehicle’s license plate. Soon after, Martin County police pulled the driver over on I-95 and took the suspect into custody.
“After that, we took the witness that witnessed the incident, flew him up there [to the county jail], and he identified [the suspect] as the person who he saw running out of the bushes that jumped in the car,” Bradshaw added.
“Now, in the bushes where this guy was, is an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks which were hung on the fence that had ceramic tile in them, and a Go-Pro” which he was going to use to take video, the sheriff added.
A photo of the backpacks has been made public and can be seen below.
The suspect is being processed and booked into the county jail, Bradshaw added.
Dave Aronberg, state attorney for Palm Beach County, said at the press conference that prosecutors are drafting warrants for the suspect and a "motion for pre-trial detention for the suspect; that way, he will be kept in custody." He added that the charges the suspect faces at the state level "does not preclude federal charges that could be coming."
Jeffrey Veltri, special agent in charge of the FBI's Miami Field Office, asked that anyone with information about the attempted assassination call 1-800-CALL-FBI or email TIPS@FBI.gov
When asked about security at the golf course, Bradshaw said that because of the landscaping around the golf course, "when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight."
"At this level that he (Trump) is at right now, he's not the sitting president," Bradshaw continued. "If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he's not, security is limited to the areas that Secret Service deems possible. So, I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there'll probably be more people around the perimeter. But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done. They provided exactly what the protection should have been, and their agent did a fantastic job."
Updated on Sept. 15 at 4 p.m. ET: The Secret Service says an agent protecting former President Donald Trump was the one who fired shots at Trump International Golf Club when he saw a man brandishing an AK-47 in the bushes a hole or two ahead of the former president. Sheriff William D. Snyder of Martin County, Florida, said the attempted assassin, who fled the scene in an SUV, was stopped on I-95 and taken into custody.
Original:
Former President Donald Trump is safe after shots were fired while he was on the fifth hole at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, a campaign spokesman said.
“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity” at the Trump International Golf Club, said campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, adding that no further information would be released “at this time.”
In a statement on X, Anthony Guglielmi, chief of communications for the United States Secret Service, said, “The Secret Service, in conjunction with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, is investigating a protective incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred shortly before 2 p.m. The former president is safe."
Fox News opinion host Sean Hannity, a friend of the former president who had been invited to that golf game but did not attend, said at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday that the gun involved had been recovered and identified as an AK-47.
Hannity added that the fifth hole, according to Eric Trump, is less than 200 yards away from the nearest public street, if not closer. Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence is located 4.5 miles away from his golf club.
CNN reported that a black vehicle involved has been found and a suspect is in custody.
The former president’s golf game was not listed on his public schedule, according to reports.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office will hold a joint press briefing later on Sunday.
This is a developing story and will be updated
