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Donald Trump assassination attempt live updates: The key unanswered question from the shooting

2 days ago 2

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior Political Reporter

Published: 12:28 BST, 16 September 2024 | Updated: 12:55 BST, 16 September 2024

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The fallout of the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump in two months continues today as questions mount over how a gunman was able to get within 500 yards of the former president.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is in custody in West Palm Beach, Florida, after pointing an AK-47 at the Republican nominee during a round of golf.

As information about the suspect in the aftermath of the terrifying close call, law enforcement and the Secret Service are investigating how he knew Trump was playing golf - even though it wasn't on his public schedule.

Follow all the updates in DailyMail.com's live blog with 50 days until the election. 

How did shooting suspect Wesley Ryan Routh know Donald Trump was golfing at his Florida course?

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Ryan Wesley Routh takes part in a rally in central Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, April 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

As multiple investigations open into the second assassination bid on Donald Trump’s life in just two months, one major question is lingering: How did the shooter know the former president was playing golf?

It’s not shocking that Trump, an avid golfer, was on his course in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

But it has raised eyebrows that the gunman knew the time and place where the Republican 2024 presidential nominee would be.

Law enforcement have suspect Wesley Ryan Routh, 58, in custody after he fled the scene when a Secret Service agent opened fire when they spotted the barrel of his AK-47 style rifle poking out of the shrubbery of Trump International Golf Club on Sunday.

Some analysts note it’s obvious when Trump is present at his golf club, which is only five miles from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach. The president will travel to the course via motorcade and security presence is massively ramped up when he is on site.

Routh moved from North Carolina to Hawaii a few years ago and is a construction worker.

It’s unclear how long Routh was in Florida before he went to Trump’s golf course with a rifle, backpack, GoPro camera and bulletproof ceramic-layered body armor – all left behind at the scene when he fled from the security detail’s gunfire.

The house of Ryan Routh is seen in Kaaawa, Hawaii, Sunday, Sept. 14, 2024. Routh is in police custody in connection with the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump on Sunday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Audrey McAvoy)

A truck in the driveway of Routh's home in Hawaii has a Biden-Harris bumper sticker

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says his state is launching an investigation into second assassination attempt on Trump

By Katelyn Caralle, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is directing state-level authorities to conduct an investigation into the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

The incident took place on Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

Trump's former GOP primary rival wrote on X:

The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.

It is one of the several ensuing probes into the events on Sunday that saw a suspect with an AK-47 rifle, GoPro Camera and bulletproof body armor get in the bushlines of Trump's course while he was golfing.

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