The man suspected of trying to assassinate Donald Trump did not seem to have a clear shot at the 45th president before he was confronted by a Secret Service agent doing an advance patrol, the sheriff of Florida’s Palm Beach County said Monday morning.
Investigators say Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was lying in wait off the sixth hole at the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach Sunday afternoon, while the 78-year-old played the fifth hole on the eastern edge of the property.
“From where [the gunman] was at, he would have had to wait for the president to get up to that hole and then turn and face going toward the area he was at,” Ric Bradshaw told “Fox & Friends.”
“It doesn’t appear to me, knowing what I know about the terrain there and where we are looking at, that he had a clear shot from there to where the president was before he would make the turn to come that way [down the sixth hole].”
The agent, walking at least one hole ahead of the former president, had spotted what “appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line” and opened fire, causing Routh to flee, per a federal criminal complaint unsealed Monday.
A witness snapped a photo of the black Nissan in which Routh took off and law enforcement caught up to him after a brief chase on Interstate 95, law enforcement officials said.
“It’s hard to see from out in the fairway there into that hedge line through the bushes … so you just kind of shoot where the gun was,” Bradshaw said Monday, adding that the suspect did not manage to get a shot off at Trump due to the quick action of his protective detail.
“The Secret Service agent did a fantastic job just returning fire as fast as he can which made the guy drop the gun and take off.”
Routh was smiling during a federal court appearance Monday morning in West Palm Beach, where he was charged with possessing a firearm despite being a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
A criminal complaint revealed that a phone number associated with Routh was tracked in the “vicinity of the area along the tree line” at the course between 1:59 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Sunday.
Routh was remanded into custody and is next scheduled for a bond hearing on Sept. 23.
On Sunday evening, Bradshaw caused a stir by suggesting that if Trump were a sitting president, he would’ve gotten more robust security, and “we would have had the entire higher golf course surrounded.”
Bradshaw appeared to walk back those comments Monday.
“What I meant by that was, he’s not a sitting president, so some of the things that happened with the Secret Service — were not there, and that’s just motorcade stuff,” he clarified.
“As far as at the scene there, at the golf course, we had as much resources as possible and what was needed,” he went on. “Look, at the end of the day, the system worked.”
The sheriff also disclosed that law enforcement is trying to determine Routh’s movements prior to arriving at the course.
“We’re trying to figure out if he had a place locally that he was staying,” Bradshaw continued. “It appears that the last place of his residence was in Hawaii. We are checking to see what his flight schedules were and if he had any travel plans to get here.”
Secret Service Acting Director Ronald Rowe trekked to Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach on Monday to tour the scene and was expected to meet with the former president.
Trump thanked both the Secret Service and Bradshaw’s office for their efforts to protect him during the attempt on his life.