On September 15, 2024, former President Donald Trump was the target of a second assassination attempt while golfing at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The incident followed an earlier attempt on his life on July 13 during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Secret Service agents stationed near the course, noticed the muzzle of an AK-47-style rifle protruding from the bushes approximately 400 yards away from where Trump was playing. The agents fired at least four shots toward the gunman, who subsequently fled the scene in a black SUV, leaving behind the rifle, two backpacks, and a GoPro camera.
Law enforcement quickly mobilized, capturing the suspect about 40 miles away on Interstate 95. The man, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, had a history of erratic behavior and had expressed strong opinions about political issues on social media. Earlier in 2024, Routh mentioned Biden on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in a post in support of his campaign and critical of Trump’s: “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose,” he said.
Routh owns a small construction business in Hawaii, and has previously protested in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv after the start of Russia’s invasion. He is registered as an “unaffiliated” voter in North Carolina, and voted in the state’s Democratic primary in March of this year. While talking about Trump on social media, he described him as “my choice” and said that he “misjudged and made a terrible mistake” when he voted for him in 2016.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Biden-Harris administration was briefed, with Harris saying that “we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence” in a statement. Trump, in an interview with Fox News, claimed that Routh decided on attempting the assassination because “believed the rhetoric of Biden and Harris”.
There were also calls to evaluate the efficacy of the Secret Service in ensuring the safety of current and former presidents and presidential candidates, as this was the second apparent attempt on Trump’s life after the Butler, Pennsylvania, shooting that Trump injured and one rally spectator dead.
