US Secret Service agents opened fire after seeing a person with a firearm near Donald Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, while the Republican presidential candidate was golfing Sunday, two law enforcement officials told the Associated Press.
Trump was safe after the gunshots were fired, his campaign said in a statement on Sunday. The campaign said no further details were available.
Fox News host Sean Hannity told viewers that he had spoken to Trump following the gunfire and confirmed that the former president is “safe and unharmed”.
Hannity added that Trump was on the fifth hole and about to put when “Secret Service pounced on the president, covered him, you had snipers with tripods.”
“They knew the direction where the shots had been fired and they had eyes on the location where the shots had been fired,” Hannity said.
Hannity also said that he confirmed with Trump that a “gun has been found – they identified it as an AK47”.
The White House announced that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had been briefed Sunday. According to pool reports, the White House said: “The president and vice-president have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former president Trump was golfing. They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.”
Harris, the Democratic nominee who is running for president against Trump in the 5 November election, added in a statement on Twitter/X: “I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”
Citing a source, Natalie Winters, the co-host of War Room, which is hosted by former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon, said on X that a suspect had been arrested in Martin county, Florida, which is north-west of West Palm Beach. Winters added that Trump was “placed in a hard room for protection” after the gunfire.
Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a political rally in Pennsylvania on 13 July. A spectator was killed, two others were injured, and Secret Service snipers shot the would-be assassin dead.
A Secret Service spokesperson, Anthony Guglielmi, on Sunday confirmed the agency was investigating “a protective incident involving” Trump that occurred at about 2pm local time. “The former president is safe,” Guglielmi added.
Reuters contributed reporting