ReutersDonald Trump was rushed to safety on Sunday after what the FBI termed an apparent assassination attempt at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested as a suspect and charged with firearms offences.
The incident comes almost exactly two months after a shooting at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, which left the Republican nominee with minor injuries and killed a man in the crowd.
Here is what we know so far about Sunday.
How was the suspect spotted?
The incident unfolded at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, about 15 minutes from Trump’s Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago.
A gunman was first seen by Secret Service agents, who were sweeping the course. Agents usually go one hole ahead to perform security checks, according to police.
The muzzle of a rifle – which has been identified in an SKS pattern – was spotted sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course.
At the time, Trump was about 300-500 yards (275-460m) away from where spot, he said.
An agent “immediately engaged” with the person holding the rifle, who fled, Sheriff Rik Bradshaw said. The suspect did not fire his weapon during the incident.
On 16 September, acting Secret Service director Ron Rowe said that Trump was “across the course and out of sight of the sixth green” when the Secret Service agent opened fire.
At no point is the suspect believed to have had a clear line of sight to the former president.
Records show that Routh’s phone had been in the area for about 12 hours, from about 0200 to 1331 local time, according to court documents and police officials.
How was the suspect caught?
Agents fired four to five rounds of ammunition on seeing the gun muzzle.
The suspect dropped the rifle and fled in a vehicle, abandoning the weapon along with two bags, a scope for his rifle and a GoPro camera, Sheriff Bradshaw said.
A witness saw the man flee from the shrubbery to a black Nissan, the sheriff said. The witness captured a photo of the car and provided it to law enforcement.
The suspect was arrested by police driving northbound on the I-95 highway after crossing into Martin County, roughly 61km (38 miles) from Trump’s golf course.
The car, a Nissan SUV, was later determined to have number plates belonging to a 2012 Ford which had previously been reported stolen.
Who is Ryan Routh?
From Martin County Sheriff OfficeRouth has an extensive criminal history dating back to the 1990s.
In 2002, he was convicted in Greensboro, North Carolina, for possession of fully automatic machine gun – characterised as a weapon of “mass death and destruction”.
In March 2010, he was convicted in North Carolina of multiple counts of possession of stolen goods.
In 2019, the FBI also received a tip that Routh was a felon in possession of a firearm. The unverified tip was passed on to local law enforcement in Honolulu.
He visited Ukraine after Russia’s full invasion and tried to recruit volunteers to fight for Kyiv. The International Legion of foreign fighters said he was never a member, and one volunteer stated he was a hindrance during his visit.
Getty ImagesWhat happened to Trump?
Trump was not injured. Soon after, he issued a statement to his fundraising list, which read: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumours start spiralling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL”.
Trump gave his account to cryptocurrency personality Farokh Sarmad during a livestream on Twitter on Monday saying, “everything was beautiful, nice place to be, and all of a sudden we heard shots being fired in the air”.
Trump, who was on the fifth hole at the time, said he heard what sounded like four or five shots.
He said the Secret Service knew “immediately” it was gunshots, they grabbed Trump and “everybody just got into the [golf] carts, and we moved along”.
“I was with an agent and the agent did a fantastic job, there was no question that we were off that course,” Trump said.
The gunshots turned out to be from an agent firing at Routh, Trump said in the livestream.
“The Secret Service did a great job, everybody did a great job,” he said later in the interview.
Has there been any political reaction?
The former president has sought to blame President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris – his rival in November’s election – for the attempt.
“Their rhetoric is causing me to be shot at, when I am the one who is going to save the country, and they are the ones that are destroying the country – both from the inside and out,” Trump said.
The White House said Biden and Harris had been briefed about the incident.
“I am deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today,” Harris said in a statement.
Leaders from the bipartisan congressional task force set up to investigate the 13 July assassination attempt in Pennsylvania said they were thankful the former president was not harmed, “but remain deeply concerned”.
The task force has requested a briefing with the Secret Service.
Trump supporters have gathered around the former president’s residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, after the incident, as well as around the golf club where the investigation is under way.
Some of them have been pictured wearing Maga (Make America Great Again) caps, and waving banners, posters and American flags that say “America first”.
What happens next?
Routh appeared in court for a hearing that lasted less than 10 minutes on Monday.
It was not an arraignment – meaning he did not enter a plea – but the charges against him were read in court. They included possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obstructed serial number.
He will appear in court again next Monday.
Palm Beach County’s state attorney, Dave Aronberg, told US media that Routh could face “a lot of time in prison”. The charges made against him carry a maximum term of 20 years in jail.
The FBI is now leading the investigation.
Trump will appear publicly for the first time since the attempted assassination at a town hall on Tuesday evening in Flint, Michigan.
