NEW YORK, September 17. /TASS/. The suspect in the recent assassination attempt on former US President Donald Trump did not have time to open fire, Acting Director of the US Secret Service, Ron Rowe, announced.
"The subject who did not have line of sight to the former president fled the scene. He did not fire or get off any shots at our agent," he said.
Rowe also noted that Trump "is aware that he has highest levels of protection that the Secret Service is providing him." He insisted that the protection measures "are working" despite the recent attempt on Trump’s life.
On September 15, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a shooting outside the Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach, where the politician was staying. The incident, which occurred about two months after an assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, is being treated as potentially another assassination attempt. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said an AK-47 assault rifle with a telescopic sight, two backpacks with ceramic plates and an action camera were found near the golf club, where the suspect was trying to hide. The suspect was identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, and was taken in custody.
About two months earlier, shots were fired at Trump on July 13 at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, with one bullet grazing his ear. The assailant, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was killed by the US Secret Service. FBI confirmed that incident is considered as an assassination attempt.