'Apparent assassination attempt' on Trump; suspect flew to Ukraine and urged Americans to join him

Trump 'safe following gunshots in his vicinity', campaign says

Donald Trump is "safe following gunshots in his vicinity", his campaign has said in a statement.

It says no further details are available.

It is currently unclear where Mr Trump is.

However, the Washington Post and other outlets are reporting the incident took place near Mr Trump's golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida.

"President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity. No further details at this time," the statement says.

Mr Trump was injured in an assassination attempt on 13 July.

Suspect's history of brushes with law - from helping defend woman from rapist to weapon of mass destruction charge

Along with his social media content and the various interviews he gave, details have also emerged of attempted assassination suspect Ryan Routh's varied history involving the law.

In 1991, the News & Record newspaper was featured in a profile for his assistance in helping defend a woman against an alleged rapist. 

Under the headline "Crimefighting pays", the then 25-year-old was described as a "super citizen" after being awarded a Law Enforcement Oscar by the Greensboro chapter of the International Union of Police Association.

However, the Washington Post reports that public records also show Routh faced criminal charges over two separate incidents in 2002 for possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

He pleaded guilty to the first charge in April 2002, but no other details were publicly available, according to the newspaper.

The News & Record reported that later that year he also was charged after barricading himself in a United Roofing building in Greensboro for three hours, armed with a machine gun.

The incident began after he was pulled over for a traffic stop, but police eventually arrested him without incident.

In that case, he is said to have pleaded guilty to driving without a license and registration, resisting a public officer and carrying a concealed firearm - while public records reportedly indicate the weapon of mass destruction charge was dropped.

Area around Trump's golf course sealed off

These pictures from the scene overnight in Florida near to Donald Trump's Trump International Golf Club.

Law enforcement officers are still at the scene in West Palm Beach and security tape has been used to section off certain areas.

Earlier, Trump supporters gathered outside his Mar-A-Lago resort, waving flags and signs that read "Trump 2024" and "America First".

'Ridiculous' claims made by suspect in newspaper interview

Even in the age of social media and the wealth of online personal details available for so many of us, an unusually large amount of information has already emerged on Ryan Routh, the man suspected of an assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

As detailed in a previous post, he wrote a book about his experience of travelling to Ukraine in a doomed attempt to assist in the war with Russia.

But his trip was also documented in an article for which he was interviewed, in the New York Times.

The journalist behind that article has written an account today about his interaction in March last year with Routh, who he said had spent some time in Ukraine trying to raise support for the war and was seeking recruits from among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban.

Despite being too old and having no military experience, he writes, "he was eager to cast aside his former life for something far more exciting and make a name for himself".

"'In my opinion everyone should be there supporting the Ukrainians,' he told me, his voice urgent, exasperated and a little suspicious over the phone."

The journalist said Routh talked of "buying off corrupt officials, forging passports and doing whatever it takes to get his Afghan cadre to Ukraine, but he had no real way to accomplish his goals.

"At one point he mentioned arranging a US military transport plane from Iraq to Poland with Afghan refugees willing to fight.

"I shook my head. It sounded ridiculous and indeed it was, but the tone in Mr Routh's voice said otherwise. He was going to back Ukraine's war effort, no matter what.

"Like many of the volunteers I interviewed, he fell off the map again. Until Sunday."

Routh 'relatively calm' after being arrested, sheriff says

When he was taken into custody, the man who we now know is Ryan Routh showed little emotion, a local official told WPTV.

"There was a lone driver in the vehicle. That driver is now in custody," Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said, adding he was "relatively calm" and "not displaying a lot of emotions".

"He never asked, 'What is this about?' Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it."

He said Florida Highway Patrol troopers closed Interstate 95 northbound and that there was a crash involving civilians caused by the traffic stop.

'The worst of humans' Routh wrote rambling book on failed trip to Ukraine

Among the many details to have emerged about Ryan Routh, the now 58-year-old appears to have written a book about the conflict in Ukraine and his seemingly ill-fated trip there.

Previously for sale on Amazon for $2.99 (£2.25), the book is entitled Ukraine's Unwinnable War.

In a series of rambling passages, he says he "describes how I have personally failed humanity and wasted 5 months with no measurable success".

"I gave up and quit, the worst of humans," he writes.

"I am the failure, the hypocrite that wants the world to change but let communism beat me down and exhaust me and send me home.

"A mere 5 months and I run for home, not even with the first bit of mud, or cold, or the first bullet, and I am beaten and exhausted in the simplest elementary ground floor challenges of good and evil, and I fail."

Did suspect actually fire shots at Trump?

While we have already learned much about the suspect detained over the apparent assassination attempt, some of the details around the incident itself remain unclear.

Among the questions that have not yet been answered is whether he actually fired any shots towards Trump before fleeing then being apprehended.

"We are not sure right now if the individual was able to take a shot at our agents," Rafael Barros, of the Secret Service, told a news conference. 

We do know that an "AK-47 style rifle" with a scope and a GoPro video camera were recovered from the bushes where the suspect was initially spotted.

Suspect supported Trump's campaign in 2016

The man suspected of trying to attack Donald Trump appears to have voted for him in 2016, before withdrawing his support.

In June 2020 Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, wrote on social media: "While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving.

"I will be glad when you gone."

Public records show he registered as an "unaffiliated" voter in North Carolina, without a party in 2012. He voted in the state's Democratic primary in March of this year.

Records also found he has contributed more than a hundred dollars to ActBlue, which processes donations for Democrats, federal campaign finance records show.

-SKY NEWS