Press Conference after Trump Assassination Attempt

Want to come on. Okay, guys, you ready? (00:12) Little rules of the road, like we always talk about ahead of time. We are going to give you, when I say we, we have a representative from the FBI, from the Secret Service, from the State Attorney's Office. We are going to give you everything we have everything. Everything. All right? So when we get done, think about your questions because we're not going to take a lot and keep them to the information that you heard. Don't get into what ifs, and because of this. We're not going to go there, so keep that in mind and we'll be good. So here we go. (00:43) All right. 1:30 this afternoon, call came out, "shots fired." That was called in by the Secret Service. Because we're in constant contact with them, all the time, we were notified of that and we had units here that immediately sealed off the area. (01:00) Fortunately, we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, "Hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tag," which was great. (01:16) So we had that information, our real-time crime center put it out to the license plate readers, and we were able to get a hit on that vehicle on I-95, as it was headed into Martin County. We got ahold of Martin County Sheriff's Office, alerted them, and they spotted the vehicle and pulled it over and detained the guy. (01:41) After that, we took the victim... I'm sorry, the witness that witnessed the incident, took him up there and he identified as the person that he saw running out of the bushes that jumped into the car. (01:54) Now in the bushes where this guy was, is an AK-47 style rifle with a scope, two backpacks, which were hung on the fence that had a ceramic tile in them, and a GoPro, which he was going to take pictures of. So those are being processed right now. (02:13) The Secret Service agent that was on the course did a fantastic job. What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time, to where the president was at, and he was able to spot this rifle barrel sticking out of the fence and immediately engaged that individual, at which time the individual took off. (02:34) So that's what we know about the investigation. We have somebody in custody right now that is a potential suspect. We got a little bit more work to do on it, but as we usually do, as soon as we decide that we're going to book him into the county jail, and the charges that he's going to be booked into, we'll get those to you and we'll get a picture of them and we'll get you his background. (02:54) So now I'm going to turn it over to the representative of the Secret Service and he's going to a brief statement.

Good afternoon everyone. I first want to thank all of our law enforcement partners, to include the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, and the Martin County Sheriff's Office for their involvement today. Former President Donald Trump is safe and unharmed, following a protective incident shortly before 2:00 PM on Sunday at Trump International Golf Club at West Palm Beach. (03:27) The U.S. Secret Service personnel opened fire on a gunman located near the property line and this matter is under investigation. I'll turn it over to my partners over at the FBI.

Good afternoon everyone. My name is Jeffrey Veltri. I'm the Special Agent in charge of the FBI's Miami Field Office. (03:51) The FBI has assumed the role as the lead federal law enforcement agency, in the investigation of the incident that occurred earlier today at Trump International Golf Course, here in West Palm Beach, Florida. We've deployed a number of resources including investigative teams, crisis response team members, bomb technicians, and evidence response team members as well. (04:19) What we need right now is for the public to avoid the area around the golf course. We will continue to support this investigation with the full resources of the FBI, alongside our partners with the United States Secret Service and the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office, as well as Martin County Sheriff's Office and state and local law enforcement. (04:39) I would ask that if anyone has any information that may assist with this investigation, to contact our tip line at 1-800-CALL FBI, or at TIPS. That's TIPS.fbi.gov. Thank you.

Hi, I am Dave Aronberg, State Attorney from Palm Beach County. I want to thank Sheriff Bradshaw and our partners at the local, state, and federal levels. I'm here because our prosecutors are currently working up warrants and a motion for pretrial detention for the suspect. In that way, he will be kept in custody, but our filing of these warrants and charged at the state level, does not preclude federal charges that could be coming, but in the meantime, it looks like the warrants and the pretrial detention motion will happen first. (05:39) And again, I want to thank the cooperation we've had with our federal partners, and at the local level, and thank you all for being here today.

Okay, we're going to make these pictures available to you. It'll show you a picture of the backpack and the rifle and there's also a GoPro on the fence there where he was intent on filming what was going on. (05:59) Even though we're going to have to secure a couple areas around the golf course here, the public doesn't need to panic. We know that we got a post office, a library, and a school down the street, so we'll make it convenient for you to get to all the places you need to go. Get your kids to school, get them over here to the post office, or wherever else you need to go. It's safe. There's no more danger here and we'll make it very convenient for you. (06:24) So having said that, we're going to take a very limited amount of questions and you can direct them to who you want to answer the question.

Sheriff, did this individual make any statements as he was being detained?

No statement right now, as far as his involvement in the incident, and there further investigation to be completed,

What was his demeanor like?

I'm not sure, maybe Secret Service gentleman can answer. I understand, so there was a rifle, one of your agents saw up on the golf course, saw a rifle pointing through a fence. Was it a chain link? So, he saw that? The agent?

That is correct. Yes.

And the President or former President was on the course behind him. How close?

It was one or two holes behind.

[inaudible 00:07:09]

Because the bubble moves through the golf course, so our agents will get there first. Clear it. He noticed that the rifle was pointed out. Our agents engaged. We are not sure right now if the individual was able to take a shot at our agents, but for sure our agents were able to engage with the subject. I don't know that.

Doesn't appear so.

In your moments now, how far away was the President? How far away was Donald Trump, when this gentleman was caught and stopped?

Probably between three and 500 yards. But with a rifle and a scope like that, that's not a long distance.

For the Secret Service, how far was your agent from the would-be assailant?

That, I'm not sure right now. That, we're still looking into that.

Reports of the four rounds of ammunition were fired. Were all four of those from your agent?

That is correct. Four to six. We're not sure yet.

Was there a long distance, explaining why?

Yes. Yes.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am. I was wondering how this was able to happen? And for future reference, is there any upped security in the golf course?

I didn't hear all that. Say that one more time and talk up a little bit.

So how is this able to happen? And for future reference, is there any upped security in the golf course?

Well, you got to understand the golf course is surrounded by shrubbery. So when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they're pretty much out of sight. And at this level that he is at right now, he's not the sitting President. If he was, we would've had this hired golf course around it. But because he's not, the security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. (09:04) So I would imagine that the next time he comes at a golf course, there'll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter, but the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done, they provided exactly what the protection should have been, and their agent did a fantastic job.

Which direction was the shrubbery? One north, south, east, west, and south of the road?

The layout of the golf course, you got three holes. Five, six, and seven. One of them runs parallel to Summit Boulevard, one of them runs parallel to Congress, and he was in an area in the shrubbery where he could see both holes. So the President was another hole back, which means he's about between four and 500 yards away.

So he was on the golf course.

Oh, he's on the golf course, yeah. But he's back a ways.

For the Secret Service. Have you guys changed at all the way that you guys are protecting former President Donald Trump? It's now a second potential second attempt on him. Can you just elaborate on how things have changed and what you made with all this?

Yes, the threat level is high. We have increased the amount of assets that we've supported, so we live in danger times. So, yes.

We're done with questions right now. There's really nothing more for us to add. (10:28) I just want to tell you, the Secret Service, and the FBI, and the State Attorney's Office have been fantastic to work with. And I can tell you right now, our agency with this real-time crime center, was fabulous. That's how we got the guy. We started out with, we don't know anything, to where we had a tag, we had a vehicle description, and we've got an area where we saw the person. (10:51) So, be proud of your law enforcement. All right, thanks folks. We'll get back to you.

Where of 95 was it that-

She'll get the photos to you.

So this table here.

We have some tape. I can tape it up there and anyone can shoot it and should.

You're right, Greg. Tom, you have tape?

Does anyone have any tape? We can tape it on the wall?

It's coming. (11:44) Backpack and this rifle here.

Can I get one of those pictures? Terry? Let me tape. Why don't I tape it right here? It's lit. Oh, is that not good? Because that's kind of far. You hold that. Put it right in the center here. (12:17) Yeah. Take one of these for cell phones and this will be for the video cameras. Leave that one for cell phone people. All right. Here, how about you? I'm going to put this up on the wall back here. Okay? Oh, they're different pictures. I did not know that. (13:16) Open up a little bit? Guys, open up a little bit so we can see the pictures.

All they know is that guys and we have that person. whether or not they're connected or that person owns... and then west and military. So they had all gun club. I believe military. (13:49) The guy that's... I think we have and that's all we have right now. But who didn't? (14:19) Do you know if there's any additional suspects, or person of interest? We believe we have the person involved. If there's anybody else, we'll let you know? (14:19) Could be at one of our church meetings before to jail. The only reason... We are going to be given the opportunity.

Expect to be booked today.