Gunman arrested after new assassination attempt on Trump: ‘This madness must stop’

As tensions run high after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and vice presidential candidate JD Vance threatened violence against innocent immigrants with baseless rumors, shots were fired and a gunman was apprehended near the former president’s golf club in Florida on Sunday.

Trump is safe after shots were fired in his neighborhood, his campaign said in a statement. The FBI and U.S. Secret Service are investigating the incident, which the FBI said “appears to be an attempt to assassinate former President Trump.”

According to CNN’s Kaitlin Collins, “A witness was able to identify the individual who ran from the bushes outside Trump’s course and jumped into a black car. Police later recovered an AK-47 “with a scope,” two backpacks and a GoPro from the bushes. Secret Service agents who ushered Trump out of a hole in the course spotted the barrel of the rifle sticking out of the bushes.”

“President Trump is safe after gunfire nearby,” Steven Cheung, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said in a brief statement.

Trump made his own statement in a fundraising email:

“There were shots fired nearby, but before the rumors get out of hand, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND HEALTHY,” Trump wrote.

“Nothing will slow me down. I will never give up.”

“I will always love you because you support me.

“Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again.”

” God bless you.

“Donald Trump.”

Two people familiar with the matter told CBS News that a man armed with a high-caliber rifle was seen near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, around 2 p.m. The man pointed the rifle toward the golf course, where the former president was at the time.

The incident comes two months after an assassination attempt on Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was shot in the ear, one attendee at the July 13 rally was killed and two others were injured. The head of the Secret Service was fired following the incident, and Congress is investigating the failures that led to the near-tragedy.

California Rep. Adam Schiff tweeted: “I am deeply saddened to learn that an armed individual showed up at Trump’s golf course and am glad the former president was not injured. This madness must stop. Violence is not the answer to our political differences.”

According to CBS:

The armed suspect was spotted by a member of Trump’s Secret Service team two holes away from where the president was playing golf, on the edge of the course, multiple law enforcement officials told CBS News. The suspect fled, jumping into a car after being targeted by Secret Service agents who shot him multiple times.

A car with the same license plate was stopped in Martin County, north of the golf course, and a man was taken into custody, authorities said. An AK-47-style handgun and a rifle scope were recovered at the scene near the golf course. No motive has been determined at this time.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the incident Sunday afternoon, the White House said.

“The President and Vice President have been briefed on the security incident at Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was playing golf. They are relieved to know that he is safe and well,” the White House said in a statement. “They will be regularly briefed by their team.”

In another message on Twitter/X, Harris said: “I’m glad he’s safe. Violence has no place in America.”

The call for peace and unity drew criticism on social media, where some pointed out that Trump and Vance had instead inflamed emotions with their baseless accusations that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were killing and eating their neighbors’ cats and dogs.

Sophia Nelson, founder of Childless Chicks for Harris, tweeted: “UNITY — he’s kidding, right?”

The bizarre accusation, which GOP leaders have been making for weeks without producing a single credible witness or victim, has sparked racist verbal attacks on Haitians, marches through the city by the Proud Boys, bomb and shooting threats, closed schools and Donald Trump’s insistence that he will visit the city and eventually save it through mass deportations if reelected.

In an interview with CNN on Sunday, Vance admitted he knew the story was false.

“If I have to create stories to make the American media actually pay attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” said Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio.

Ironically, Vance’s attempt to highlight an imagined “suffering” led to real suffering among his own constituents.

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