Paul Ellertson, online publishing coordinator

There has been another alleged assassination attempt on former Pres. Donald Trump. The latest alleged attempt was at his golf resort, Mar-a-Lago in West Palm Beach, Florida. According to the BBC, the gunman had been hiding for almost 12 hours by the time Trump was on-site playing golf. The incident occurred at just past 1:30 p.m. EST on Sept. 15 when a Secret Service agent spotted a gun pointing out from the bushes and Trump was immediately evacuated. The person suspected of being behind the gun is Ryan Routh, age 58, from Florida.

“The suspect was described to have an AK-47 style rifle and didn’t actually fire any shots,” according to investigators. Additionally, it appeared that Routh was prepared to wait a while because he had a bag of food with him. Once he was spotted he fled the scene in a black SUV, but authorities caught him 40 minutes later on Interstate 95 according to the BBC.

Routh has an extensive criminal record in North Carolina with multiple felonies. He moved to Hawaii where he started a construction company in 2018. Routh is said to have possible grievances with Trump about his views on the Russo-Ukrainian War, something which is suspected to be at least one of his motives. In his “self-published” book “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” Routh tells Iran “You are free to assassinate Trump.” According to ABC News, the FBI is doing everything in its power to investigate Routh by interviewing those who know him and looking into his digital footprint as well as anything else they can get their hands on. 

“It wasn’t clear if Routh was aiming directly at Trump before agents fired 4-6 rounds at him,” said Ric Bradshaw, Palm Beach County sheriff, in an interview with ABC News. Trump’s decision to go golfing was last minute and not publicized so Trump’s neighbors have been very inquisitive, asking how the gunman knew Trump would be at the course and how the gunman even got to the bush where he was spotted, according to ABC News. “Trump was near the 5th hole when he heard popping sounds,” said an unnamed Republican who spoke with Trump afterward in a quote to ABC News. The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office stated “The golf course was not surrounded by law enforcement because Trump is not the sitting president. If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.” 

According to CBS, Routh is facing charges of possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and if convicted could face a prison sentence of 20 years. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon who controversially dismissed a case in July that charged Trump with hoarding unclassified documents.