The breathless arrest of Donald Trump‘s would-be assassin along the I-95 interstate in Florida yesterday has been described in stunning detail by a motorist caught up in the high-speed chase.
Daniel Rodriguez explained how he first spotted a few police cars quickly gaining ground in his rear-view mirror as a chopper soared overhead.
The motorist said he thought there had been an accident up ahead until he clocked Routh’s Black Nissan swerving in and out of traffic at high speed.
‘We were actually about to enter I-95 until we started seeing a bunch of patrol officers. And then that’s when we saw a black Nissan speeding up… We started seeing a bunch more patrol officers and a helicopter came.
‘It was insane,’ Rodriguez said. ‘A Nissan went blazing right by us, and multiple troopers going at least 90mph passed us, too.’
He went onto explain how the suspect was apprehended and held at gunpoint by the side of the road as a two-hour-long traffic jam developed.
‘We stepped outside of the car and we saw there was multiple officers with their rifles drawn at the car for a couple of hours, actually. And it looked like an intense standoff. We were actually petrified.’
Trump on Sunday narrowly escaped a second assassination attempt in as many months when Secret Service agents opened fire on Routh as he hid in the bushes along the former president’s Trump International Golf Club in Mar-a-Lago.
Shocking pictures broadcast yesterday showed the tall, slim man standing beside a car holding his hands above his head and raising his t-shirt to show officers he was no longer armed
This photo provided by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows Sheriff’s vehicles surrounding an SUV on the northbound I-95 in Martin County on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024
The suspect was arrested after police managed to stop his car on the I-95
Bags, a go-pro camera and a rifle are seen abandoned along Trump’s golf course
The alleged gunman was identified as registered Democrat Ryan Wesley Routh, 58 while a backpack, GoPro camera and rifle that he left behind was located at the scene
Trump narrowly escaped a second assassination attempt in as many months yesterday when Secret Service agents opened fire on a would-be gunman as he hid in the bushes along the former president’s Trump International Golf Club
Rodriguez went onto explain how the incident ‘changed his life’ because it made him realise how ‘insecure’ America was.
‘It really gave me insight of like how like unsecure we are as a country because… because like life is so short and we never like get to see that. And we just saw like in a blink of an eye, just like somebody almost getting killed, our former president almost getting killed again.
‘At the same time, we’re seeing suspects and especially more crazy people going out on the streets and doing these things. And it’s really hurting our democracy, to be honest.
‘It’s just making me very scared, especially as an American and especially as a Colombian-American… it hurts me personally just to see this happen.’
The shocking incident began when one agent tasked with protecting Trump noticed a strange object poking out from a fence along the side of the course a few hundred yards away, and subsequently identified it as the barrel of a rifle.
The 58-year-old suspect fled the scene when agents shot at his position, abandoning his rifle and other items to make a break for his car before making a speedy exit.
Although Routh is not believed to have got a shot off, the FBI described it as an apparent attempted assassination on the GOP nominee.
It comes just weeks after Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet when a gunman was able to gain access to an unsecured roof at his Pennsylvania rally in July, unleashing a hail of bullets that left one supporter dead and two others badly injured.
Routh was detained a short while after he made his getaway from the golf club when a horde of police cars slowed and apprehended him on I-95.
Shocking pictures broadcast yesterday showed the tall, slim man standing beside a car holding his hands above his head and raising his t-shirt to show officers he was no longer armed.
CNN and CBS reported Routh was a self-employed affordable housing builder in Hawaii who had a lengthy rap sheet and regularly posted on politics and current events.
He was found to be highly critical of Trump, and a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion.
Routh was unarmed when he was arrested, but officers later secured backpacks, a GoPro camera and a rifle at the side of the golf course.
Martin County Sherriff William D. Snyder said Routh ‘was not displaying a lot of emotions’ when police arrested him.
Snyder added that the suspected shooter was ‘relatively calm’ and ‘never asked’ why he was being detained.
Routh professed his support for Biden and Harris prior to Biden leaving the race in 2024, saying ‘democracy is on the ballot and we cannot lose’.
The car Routh was found in will be taken into FBI custody for further investigation, according to authorities.
At the time, the shooter was about 300-500 yards from the Republican presidential candidate who was playing golf between holes five and six
Would be shooter Routh fled the scene in a car but later pulled over and surrendered to law enforcement
The house of Ryan Wesley Routh, the man arrested in connection with the apparent assesination attempt against former US President Trump in his golf course is seen on September 15, 2024 in Kaaawa, a small town located on the windward side of the island of Oahu, Hawaii
A truck parked at Routh’s home had a ‘Biden/Harris’ bumper sticker on it
The attempted attack on the former President is sure to raise new questions about the level of protection Trump is given just weeks away from November’s presidential elections.
While the Secret Service has grappled with how to keep Trump safe as he campaigns across the country, holding rallies that often draw thousands, less attention has focused on his protection when he is off the trail, often at his own clubs and properties.
The former president had just returned to Florida from a West Coast swing that included stops in Las Vegas and Utah, and had announced on social media that he would be delivering remarks Monday from Mar-a-Lago about cryptocurrency as he launches a new crypto platform.
Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, about a 10-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago residence, is one of three golf clubs the former president owns in Florida, boasting 27 holes of championship golf as well as event spaces.
While Trump was president, news photographers were often able to capture images of him on the greens by finding gaps in the shrubbery, but Sunday’s round of golf was not part of any public schedule.
It was not clear how the suspect knew Trump was playing golf at the time, or what his motive was.
Routh was interviewed in April 2022 in Kyiv, where he was taking part in a demonstration in support of Ukrainians trapped in the port city of Mariupol
Palm Beach County Sherrif Ric Bradshaw speaks at a press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024
Secret Service and Homeland Security agents check a former home of a suspect named by news organisations as Ryan W. Routh as the FBI investigates what they said was an apparent assassination attempt in Florida
Palm Beach Sheriff officers guard the rear entrance of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, USA on 15 September 2024
Law enforcement personnel investigate the area around Trump International Golf Club after an apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw noted at a briefing that because Trump is no longer in office, security protocols around the course had loosened.
‘He’s not the sitting president. If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, his security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible,’ he told reporters.
Unlike many former presidents and VIPs who live in heavily secured private communities, Trump’s club is open to dues-paying members who mingle with the former president at meals and can invite their own guests to the property.
Trump often holds court on the club’s patio, playing DJ with his iPad.
While president, he once plotted a response to a North Korean missile launch from the candlelit terrace, the meeting captured and posted on social media by a club member.
Law enforcement officials praised the work of the agents assigned to protect Trump.
One agent, tasked with jumping one hole ahead of the former president to scope out potential threats, managed to spot the gunman’s rifle barrel sticking out of the fence that surrounds the golf club and ‘immediately engaged that individual’, Bradshaw said.
In an email to campaign staff Sunday night, senior campaign advisers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles credited the Secret Service for saving Trump, who has praised the agents in his own protective detail for their bravery as they rushed on stage to protect him in Butler, Pennsylvania.
‘President Trump and everyone accompanying him are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,’ they wrote.