Second attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump
Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
When former president Donald Trump was playing on his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, there was a second assassination attempt, on Sept. 15.
As former President Donald Trump was golfing near his country club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, there was a second attack on his life. The individual suspected is Ryan Wesley Routh, who was documented in court camping outside of the golf course, reportedly waiting nearly 12 hours for Trump to appear.
According to APnews and Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr., authorities noticed that there appeared to be a firearm poking out of plants on the golf course only 400 to 500 yards away from the former president. As Trump was moving from the fifth hole into the area of the sixth hole, an agent saw Routh “armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm…” as stated by APnews.
After being caught, Routh ran away in his vehicle before being detained in a neighboring county, about 50 miles from the course. According to CBS News, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) searched the car and found numerous items: "additional license plates, six cell phones, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaii driver's license in Routh's name, and documents, according to the court filing.” During the investigation, the FBI found that one of the cell phones contained a Google search of how to travel from Florida to Mexico.
Moreover, the documents contained numerous handwritten notes of the dates from August through October of venues Trump had scheduled to appear or was predicted to go to.
Once the crisis was comprehended, Trump was removed from the area, and the FBI “found in the fence line an AK-47 style rifle with a scope attached and extended magazine,” as stated in CBS News.
This is not the first time Routh has attempted to harm the former president. After further investigation, the FBI has recently revealed that Routh traveled from “Greensboro, North Carolina, to West Palm Beach on Aug. 14, prosecutors said. The records also showed that on multiple days and times from Aug. 18 to Sept. 15, the day of the incident, Routh's cell phone accessed towers near Trump International Golf Course and Mar-a-Lago, the former president's South Florida residence, according to the court filing,” as stated in CBS News.
Recent revelations have been from federal prosecutors wanting Routh to remain detained throughout a trial. CBS News states, “Routh appeared before a federal magistrate judge for a pretrial detention hearing Monday [Sept. 15,] during which he was denied bond and ordered to remain behind bars.” Federal prosecutors said they plan to ask a grand jury to charge Routh with “attempted assassination of a political figure, which carries a maximum potential sentence of life in prison,” as told by CBS News.
Rowe recently spoke out and stated, according to CBS News, that Trump has the “highest levels of protection.” Additionally, he praised the agents for protecting Trump from further attacks and for their work. Rowe stated to CBS News, “The procedures work, the redundancies work so that a high level of protection is working.”