Shooting at Trump golf club raises concerns about security of ex-president

Shots were fired on Sunday near the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida while the former president was on-site, again raising questions about candidate security.

“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity,” Trump communications director Steven Cheung said in a statement. “No further details at this time.”

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the agency, along with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, are investigating “a protective incident involving former President Donald Trump that occurred shortly before 2 p.m. The former president is safe.”

In a statement of her own, Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s Democratic rival for the Oval Office, said, “I have been briefed on reports of gunshots fired near former President Trump and his property in Florida, and I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”

It is currently unknown if Trump was the target of the shooting or if it was unrelated. Secret Service agents opened fire on a person in the vicinity holding a gun, the Associated Press reported. The person, who fled the scene in an SUV, was later captured by police in a neighboring county, law enforcement sources told the AP.

Security around Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach country-club-turned-residence, was beefed up after gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks shot the Republican presidential candidate in an assassination attempt during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.

“The safety and security of our protectees is the U.S. Secret Service’s top priority,” the agency said of its plan to shut down thoroughfares running along the perimeter of the property. (The guidelines were relaxed after outrage from local residents.)

Trump regularly travels between