New images reveal the backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47-style rifle that a gunman left behind as he fled the scene of an attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
Law enforcement officials held a news conference in West Palm Beach on Sunday after the FBI announced it is investigating a second assassination attempt on Donald Trump in just two months.
The former president was rushed to safety Sunday after several shots were fired near him while he was playing golf at his club in West Palm Beach.
A suspected gunman is in custody after the terrifying incident at the Trump International Club almost exactly two months after a gunman tried to take out Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The FBI and local police held a press conference Sunday afternoon where they revealed images of the suspected killer’s belongings left at the scene, including a backpack, a GoPro camera and an AK-47 rifle.
Trump confirmed in a statement about an hour after the incident that he was “safe and sound” and that he did not want rumors to “start to spiral out of control.”
The Republican nominee for 2024’s beefed-up Secret Service advance team spotted the shooter in the trees, just two holes away from where Trump was playing golf.
The FBI now says two hours after the incident that the attack “appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.”
The armed suspect was positioned outside the club around the 5th and 6th holes, which a source familiar with the incident told DailyMail.com is a “vulnerable” area of the course.
Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the suspected killer was wielding an “AK-47-style weapon with a scope,” which was recovered at the scene.
There was also a backpack and a GoPro camera, which Sheriff Bradshaw revealed in footage from where the suspect was set up in bushes along the fence of Trump’s golf club.
Several shots were heard near Donald Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday.
Donald Trump plays golf at his club in West Palm Beach on May 4, 2023
The area where the suspect was first spotted by his security team was two holes in front of where Trump was golfing at the time of the shooting, prompting the individual to flee.
In this area the weeds are cut every summer and it is one of the parts of the route closest to the road.
The incident comes as Trump’s security detail has been beefed up in the two months since the former president was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.
Trump’s golf club is just five miles from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Palm Beach and is where the former president is often seen golfing when not on the campaign trail.
Real estate investor and New York City homeowner Steve Witkoff was Trump’s golfing partner on Sunday, sources told DailyMail.com.
The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Department held a news conference Sunday afternoon to provide updates on the shooting and released images of the suspect’s backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47 rifle left at the scene.
“Nothing will stop me,” Trump wrote in a statement. “I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!”
Palm Beach Sheriff’s Department vehicles were stationed outside Trump International Golf Club on Sunday after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of where the former president was playing golf.
Traffic in West Palm Beach as police close roads outside Trump International Golf Club after shots were heard near the former president, who was playing golf.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are aware of the shooting and are “relieved” that no one was harmed.
“The President and Vice President have been briefed on the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was playing golf,” the White House said.
“They are relieved to know that he is safe. His team will keep them informed regularly.”
Harris, who met Trump for the first time in person at their debate on Tuesday, responded to the shooting with a statement that echoed the cliché: “Violence has no place in America.”
“I’ve been made aware of reports of shots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I’m glad he’s safe,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
When not campaigning, Trump can often be found golfing at his West Palm Beach club (pictured)
Trump speaks to DailyMail.com during an interview at his Mar-a-Lago club, just five miles from his golf club where the shooting occurred on Sunday.
US Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a post on X: ‘The Secret Service, along with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, is investigating a protective incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred shortly before 2 p.m.’
“The former president is safe,” he said, adding that the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office will follow up with more details about the incident.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he spoke to Trump moments after the news broke.
“He is one of the strongest people I have ever met,” the senator wrote in X. “He is in good spirits and more determined than ever to save our country.”
It remains unclear how many people were involved in Sunday’s shooting and whether the former president was targeted. It is also unclear whether the suspect fired his weapon or whether the shots were fired by officers who targeted the alleged threat.
But the mere report of gunfire near Trump raises suspicions as multiple investigations are underway into the shooting in Pennsylvania earlier this summer that left two people dead, including the shooter, and two seriously injured.
A bullet hit Donald Trump in the right ear during an assassination attempt on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot and killed by Secret Service agents after he was able to climb onto a roof with an AR-15 just 400 feet from where Trump was speaking and fire multiple shots that killed one rally-goer, seriously injured two others and hit the former president.
Trump emerged from the assassination attempt with only a bloody ear that could have been fatal if a shot had been a few millimeters different and hit his head.
But would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot dead by Secret Service before he could fire another shot at the former president.
Initial investigations led authorities to discover his car near the Butler protest site rigged with explosives and his parents’ home rigged with even more bombs.
Investigations by Congress and other local and federal authorities are underway to uncover what led to the failures that allowed a shooter to get within just a few hundred feet of Trump with an AR-15 rifle.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) sits on the House task force on the attempted assassination.
He said Sunday that this shows the attack was not an “isolated incident” and demanded that the Secret Service brief the task force this week.
“As I have said before, the July 13 assassination attempt was not an isolated incident that we can calmly investigate, as there are ongoing domestic and foreign threats,” Waltz wrote in X.