Former President Donald Trump escaped another assassination attempt on Sunday while he was on his Florida golf course. The would-be assassin got within 300 yards of the former president before he was taken into custody. 

Questions have been raised as to how another assassin was allowed to get with the kill shot distance of the former president. Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw gave a shocking answer to the question. 

Bradshaw told reporters shortly after the incident that the Secret Service had limited ability. 

To protect Donald Trump because he was not a sitting president. 

“The golf course is surrounded by shrubbery, so when somebody gets into the shrubbery, they’re pretty much out of sight, all right, and at this level that he is at right now, he’s not the sitting president,” Bradshaw said. “If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”

Bradshaw suggested that the incident would be a wake-up call for the Secret Service when Trump visits the golf course next. 

“So, I would imagine that the next time he comes to the 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.” Bradshaw concluded. 

According to reports in The Daily Mail, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach is close to Kirk Road, Summit Boulevard and Congress Avenue. The former president could be seen playing from across from Kirk Road when he was playing golf.

During his presidency, members of the press were not allowed to stand on the sidewalks nearby when Trump was playing golf. Those restrictions were, however, lifted after he left office in 2021. 

According to official reports, a Secret Service agent spotted the gunman’s rifle sticking out of the bushes just two holes ahead of where Trump was golfing. The agents quickly fired at the suspects. The suspect was later identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, a registered Democrat. He was taken into custody by authorities.