John Jefferson
Background: Picture of the rifle, two backpacks, and GoPro on Trump Intentional Golf Course on Sept. 15, 2024 (WOFL). Inset: Donald Trump (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
Presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump is “safe and unharmed” after a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel pointing out of a fence at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, authorities say.
They have not announced charges or named a suspect, but they said that a man was detained after a witness spotted him leaping out of nearby bushes.
This incident follows two months after gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire on a Trump rally in Butler County, Pennsylvania, killing retired fire chief Corey Comperatore and critically injuring two people. The former president sustained a graze injury to an ear. Secret Service agents killed Crooks. It is unclear why Crooks, a registered Republican who once gave $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project through ActBlue on the day Joe Biden was inaugurated as president in 2021, attacked. Authorities have said that he considered attacking various events and eventually settled on the Trump rally as a “target of opportunity.”
More Law&Crime coverage: Retired fire chief was shot and killed while protecting wife and daughter from attempted Trump assassin, family reveals
On Sunday, at 1:30 p.m., the U.S. Secret Service called local authorities about shots fired. Trump had been at the golf course, but as a precaution, an agent was clearing the area first. While checking out a hole, he spotted a rifle pointing out a chain-length fence. Authorities opened fired four to six shots. It is unclear if the suspect opened fire. Trump was one or two holes back; up to 500 yards away, authorities said.
Nearby, a witness described seeing a man running out bushes then escaping into a black Nissan. Authorities put out information to license plate readers and got a hit on I-95. The vehicle was heading into Martin County. Deputies there pulled him over and detained him. Investigators took the witness to him, and the witness identified the individual as the man from the bushes, authorities said.
They say that in the bushes, they discovered an AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile in there, and a GoPro camera for recording.
Authorities did not name this driver in a press conference later Sunday afternoon, only describing him as a “potential suspect,” but noted that prosecutors are working on getting warrants and pre-trial detention. This does not preclude federal charges. The FBI is the lead investigative agency for this case.
Authorities ask that anyone with tips to call 1-800-CALL-FBI; or go online to tips.fbi.gov.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
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