Donald Trump broke his silence hours after surviving a second assassination attempt on his life while he played golf on his Florida course.
The Republican presidential nominee shared his intriguing take about the ‘interesting day’ on Truth Social and praised the Secret Service and authorities for their ‘incredible job’.
‘I would like to thank everyone for your concern and well wishes – It was certainly an interesting day!
‘Most importantly, I want to thank the U.S. Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his Office of brave and dedicated Patriots, and, all of Law Enforcement, for the incredible job done today at Trump International in keeping me, as the 45th President of the United States, and the Republican Nominee in the upcoming Presidential Election, SAFE.
‘THE JOB DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY OUTSTANDING. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!’ Trump wrote.
Around 1.30pm the West Palm Beach Police Department was notified of shots fired by the Secret Service after an agent spotted the shooter in the bushes at Trump International Golf Club in Mar-a-Lago, West Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
At the time, the alleged gunman, registered Democrat Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was about 300-500 yards from the 45th president who was playing golf between holes five and six.
The terrifying threat to the former President was flagged by a Secret Service agent who noticed something out of the ordinary sticking out of the chain-link fence surrounding the golf course.
Danger was confirmed when they abruptly realized it was a rifle barrel with a scope. The agent ‘immediately engaged’ and fired four-six rounds at Routh.
Bradshaw said the agent who saw the rifle is part of a team that stays a hole or two ahead of Trump on the course.
The former president was rushed to safety while Routh fled the scene.
A witness then saw the alleged shooter drive away in his car and took pictures of his license plates before handing them over to law enforcement.
Daniel Rodriguez, who was driving back from Orlando with his family from a soccer match on I-95, told CNN he witnessed the ‘wild scene’ when sheriff’s deputies pulled Routh over.
‘We saw multiple officers starting to speed up behind us,’ Rodriguez said.
‘We saw a black Nissan speed up and merge in and out of traffic. We saw a helicopter flying in the air and many more police starting to appear. Then, a state trooper pulled over and stopped the traffic lane.’
During his arrest, Routh showed little emotion and remained calm when he was taken into custody.
Martin County Sheriff William Synder said: ‘He never asked, “what is this about?” Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it.’
Bradshaw said Trump’s golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, making it hard to see people hidden within.
He told reporters at a press conference that the Secret Service had a ‘limited’ ability to protect Trump at the golf course.
‘The golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, so when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they’re pretty much out of sight, all right, and at this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president,’ Bradshaw said.
‘I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter.
‘But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done, they provided exactly what the protection should have been and their agent did a fantastic job,’ Bradshaw added.
He added that the gunman had an AK-style rifle with a scope, a GoPro camera and two backpacks hanging from a fence.
The backpacks had ceramic tile inside and the suspect’s belongings are being processed, according to Bradshaw.
After news broke of shots fired, the former president’s campaign communications director Steven Cheug said: ‘President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time.’
Trump soon issued a defiant statement promising to ‘never surrender.’
‘There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I am safe and well,’ he wrote in an alert sent out by his team.
‘Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!’ the candidate continued, months after surviving a separate attempt on his life that saw him shot in the ear in Butler, Pennsylvania.
‘I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.
‘May God bless you,’ he wrote.
Trump arrived back to his home in Mar-a-Lago around 4.43pm, according to a source familiar with the incident.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Trump is ‘unstoppable’ after spending time with him after the incident.
Though he was not on the course with the former president during the time, Johnson had a meeting scheduled with him at Mar-a-Lago afterward.
The son of the suspected shooter exclusively told DailyMail.com his father is not a violent person and did not even believe him to own a gun.
Routh’s son, Oran Routh, reached by DailyMail.com shortly after Sunday’s shooting and said that was the first he’d heard of the alleged assassination attempt.
‘This was the first I heard about it,’ the 35-year-old exclusively told DailyMail.com. ‘Was my father shot or injured?’
He said his father hates Trump as ‘every reasonable person does.
‘I don’t like Trump either,’ the son added.
But he said his dad is not a violent person and couldn’t believe his father would target the president.
‘He’s my dad and all he’s had is a couple traffic tickets, as far as I know,’ the son said. ‘That’s crazy. I know my dad and love my dad, but that’s nothing like him.’
Oran said his father, who had no military experience, had traveled to Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion to help volunteer and provide aid to those affected.
He added that Routh moved to Hawaii a few years back and was living with his longtime girlfriend. Oran added that he didn’t know his father was even in Florida.
Routh went from voting for Trump in 2016 to donating to Democrats in 2020, to four years later calling him a ‘threat to democracy’ and that he’d ‘be glad when’ Trump’s gone.
Routh’s posts on his now-deactivated Facebook and X accounts paint a picture of a man radicalized about both Trump and the Russia-Ukraine war.
He also appears to have a record of over 100 counts of various crimes, including a 2002 arrest for possessing a weapon of mass destruction, per the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction.
The records do not provide details about the case. But a News & Record story from 2002 says a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police.
Routh, 36 at the time, was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, ‘referring to a fully automatic machine gun,’ according to the News & Record.
Further look into Routh’s past show convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run, per NBC News.