(OSV News) – Former president Donald J. Trump was the target of an apparent assassination attempt Sept. 15, weeks after being wounded in a previous attack during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania.
Campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump was “safe following gunshots in his vicinity” as the former president played golf at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh was taken into custody after fleeing the golf course in an SUV. Secret Service agents stationed ahead of Trump on the course spotted Routh hiding in shrubbery with an AK-style rifle fitted with a scope, and “immediately engaged” with the suspect, said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw in a Sept. 15 news conference.
A GoPro camera and backpacks were also discovered where Routh had been positioned, the sheriff said.
Bradshaw said the Secret Service had alerted his agency to shots fired at 1:30 p.m. and “immediately sealed off the area.”
An unnamed witness helped law enforcement track down Routh’s vehicle, a black Nissan model the witness photographed, said Bradshaw.
Routh was apprehended while driving on I-95 into Martin County and was identified by the witness, said Bradshaw.
The FBI is investigating the incident as an apparent assassination attempt.
Trump released a statement Sept. 15 saying, “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL! Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER.”
President Joe Biden said in a Sept. 15 statement he was “relieved that the former President is unharmed.”
On July 13, Trump sustained a graze wound to his ear when 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks fired at the former president during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Crooks, who had scaled a building just outside the rally area, was killed by Secret Service agents. Former fire chief Corey Comperatore was also killed while shielding his wife and daughter from gunfire. Two other rally attendees were wounded.
“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country, and I have directed my team to continue to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety,” said Biden in his Sept. 15 statement.
Metropolitan Archbishop Borys A. Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, in a statement released by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on June 18, said that “more and more it has become abundantly clear that violent behavior – both physical and verbal – is now seen by many as an acceptable means for carrying out political or ideological disputes.”
Archbishop Gudziak, who chairs the USCCB’s Committee for Domestic Justice and Human Development, noted that “people in public office are receiving more death threats than ever before, some of which turn into physical attacks.
“About half of Americans expect there will be violence in response to future presidential elections results,” said the archbishop.
Yet “America can do so much better,” he stressed. “There is no good reason to resort to violence to resolve political issues. … Practically speaking, political violence does not ensure positive or lasting change.”
“We pray and urge all Christians and people of good will: abstain from political violence of any kind!” Archbishop Gudziak urged. “Instead, ‘pursue what leads to peace and building up one another’ (Rom. 14:19) through dialogue, seeking justice.”