Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has apparently survived another apparent assassination attempt after being shot and wounded during a rally in Pennsylvania on July 13.
Authorities say the gunman attempted to assassinate Trump on Sunday at Trump's golf course in Palm Beach, Florida.
The suspect behind today's incident has already been identified by CNN, Fox News and The New York Times like Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii.
The Secret Service said its agents were accompanying Trump on the golf course when one who was securing holes ahead of Trump spotted a gun barrel in some bushes near the property line.
Several officers confronted the gunman and fired at least four shots at him. The gunman then dropped his AK-47-style rifle, two backpacks, a Go Pro camera and other items and fled in a black Nissan car.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said a witness managed to take a photo of the suspected gunman's car and license plate and gave it to authorities.
Shortly after, sheriff's deputies in neighboring Martin County stopped the suspect on Interstate 95 and took him into custody.
What do we know about the alleged shooter?
Reuters Profiles for Ryan Routh were found on X, Facebook and LinkedIn, and public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the shooting.
The three accounts bearing Routh's name suggest he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On April 21, Routh sent an X-text to Elon Musk, writing: “I'd like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putin's Black Sea mansion bunker to take him out. Can you please give me a price?”
He The New York Times reported that he had interviewed Routh in 2023 for an article about Americans who volunteered to help in the war effort in Ukraine. Routh told the newspaper NYT He had traveled to Ukraine and spent several months there in 2022 and was trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.
On X-Day 2020, Routh expressed his support for US Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked Biden by calling him “Sleepy Joe”.
Earlier this year, Routh tagged Biden in a post on X: “@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trump should be MASS.” […] “Turning Americans back into slaves, our masters. Democracy is on the ballot and we can't lose it.”
The alleged gunman's son, Adam, was hit by Reuters At the hardware store where he works in Hawaii, he said he had not yet heard about the latest attempt on Trump's life and had “no information,” adding that it was not something he believed his father would do.
The reporter later called the store again and was told by a colleague that Adam had gone home due to an emergency.
Another of Routh's sons, Oran, said: CNN In a statement that “I have no comment beyond a profile of his character as a loving and caring father.” […] “I don't know what happened in Florida and I hope things have just gotten out of proportion.”
Additionally, it has been revealed that Routh was previously interviewed by AFP in kyiv, Ukraine, in 2022, where he had traveled to support the war effort.
“Putin is a terrorist and he must be eliminated, so we need everyone in the world to stop what they are doing and come here now,” he said during the interview.
“I AM READY TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE UKRAINIAN BORDER TO VOLUNTEER, FIGHT AND DIE. [….] Can I be the example? We must win,” Routh said in an X post in March 2022, according to the NYT.
