Suspect in Trump assassination attempt waited 12 hours near golf course

New Delhi: The man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump camped outside a Florida golf course with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, lying in wait for the former president before a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire, according to court documents filed Monday.

Ryan Wesley Routh did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away after an agent who spotted him shot in his direction, officials said. He was arrested in a neighbouring county.

Routh, 58, appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach to face federal firearms charges, starting a criminal case in the final weeks of a presidential race already touched by violence and upheaval. Though no one was injured, the episode marked the second attempt on Trump’s life in as many months, raising questions about the security provided to him during a time of amped-up political rhetoric and what the Secret Service chief called an “unprecedented and hyper-dynamic threat environment.”

Even as Trump’s Republican allies and some Democrats demanded answers about how a would-be shooter was able to get so close to Trump, Ronald Rowe Jr., the Secret Service’s acting director, offered a fiery defence of the agents he said were “rising to this moment” despite needing additional resources.

“The men and women of the Secret Service, right now, we are redlining them, and they are rising to this moment, and they are meeting the challenges,” Rowe said, citing recent political conventions and other major events that required extensive protective details.

Authorities were continuing to examine Routh’s potential motive and movements in the days and weeks leading up to Sunday, when a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s security detail spotted a firearm poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.

The agent fired, and Routh escaped into a sport utility vehicle, leaving behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food.

He had been at the golf course’s tree line from 1:59 a.m. to 2:31 p.m., according to an FBI affidavit that cited cellphone data to track his whereabouts. The FBI is investigating how long the Hawaii man had been in Florida, said Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office.

Coming just weeks after a July 13 shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in which Trump was wounded by a gunman’s bullet, the latest assassination attempt accelerated concerns that violence continues to infect American presidential politics.

Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s opponent in the November election, denounced the thwarted attack, with Harris saying in a post on X: “I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”

The FBI has interviewed family members, friends and colleagues and is working to collect evidence. No motive has been disclosed, and Routh invoked his right to an attorney when questioned, authorities said.

Investigators are also examining Routh’s large online footprint, which suggests a man of evolving political viewpoints, including recently an apparent disdain for Trump, as well as intense outrage at global events concerning China and especially Ukraine. (AP)