At a press conference with the Secret Service and local sheriff’s department, police said they had “immediately” sealed off the area.
The FBI says it is investigating “what appears to be an attempted assassination” on former US President Donald Trump.
That comes after the Secret Service reported Trump safe after gunshots were reported in his vicinity at 2pm local time on Sunday in Florida.
CBS News reports that the suspect who fired was reportedly in the tree line adjacent to Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course and was armed with an AK-47 rifle.
That was confirmed by the local sheriff who said in a press conference that an “AK-47-style” rifle had been recovered from the area where the suspect had been seen, along with a scope and backpacks.
Teri Barbera from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office showed photographs of the evidence officers had recovered from the scene, found on the fence of Trump’s golf course.
The suspect fled the scene in a car after being engaged by a Secret Service agent.
CBS says that a car with the same license plates was stopped in Martin County and an individual was taken into custody but it’s unclear if it is the gunman.
The Trump campaign released a statement from the former president in which he wrote, “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumours start spiralling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!”
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, against whom Trump will run in November’s election, posted on X to say she was glad he was safe, adding “Violence has no place in America”.
Trump has had a stepped-up security footprint since an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in July.
In that incident, the bullet grazed his ear.
At outdoor rallies, Trump now speaks from behind an enclosure of bulletproof glass.
Our journalists are working on this story and will update it as soon as more information becomes available.
