(NewsNation) — The man suspected in a second attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump fled Secret Service detection, leaving behind an AK-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera. A ceramic tile found in one backpack was also being processed.
“Certainly, it appears to me that he was looking to go out in a blaze,” former FBI senior executive Joshua Skulke told NewsNation. “When you look at the ceramic tiles, the high-powered rifle, he was certainly prepared for a confrontation.”
Palm Beach County authorities said the suspect, identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, was spotted hiding in the bushes after he allegedly pushed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle through the fence perimeter of the golf course near where the former president was playing Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida.
A U.S. Secret Service agent saw the rifle and opened fire at the man, who fled the scene, leaving behind the items in a makeshift sniper’s den.
“I think it looks a lot like those are ceramic plates usually used for protection against high-powered rifles. A lot of military and law enforcement wear them in a high-risk operation,” Skulke said. “It allows … them better protection than the flak jacket or bulletproof vest they’re wearing. That’s what it looks like to me.”
The incident occurred roughly two months after the Trump was shot during an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
As details on the Florida shooting suspect emerge, including a 2002 conviction of possessing a weapon of mass destruction and a criminal history in North Carolina, questions about the former president’s security have been raised.
“Understand that the Secret Service doesn’t have the control over the former president,” Skulke said. “The president still has free will and can do things that he wants, and sometimes there’s a conflict between what the protectee wants to do” and what the security detail would prefer.
No one was injured in the incident, which occurred about 5 miles away from the president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
“We know that this is a high-threat environment for a lot of our political leaders and especially former President Trump,” Skulke said.
Skulke said the security protocols that the Secret Service had in place worked.
“We were very fortunate that the individual was not able to get a shot off, and it’s very concerning,” Skulke said. “There will have to be other measures put into place and certainly discussed with the former president.”
