Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect named by US media in connection with the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, told the New York Times in 2023 that he wanted to assist the war effort in Ukraine, and was seeking to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban.

In a telephone interview with the paper, external, Routh said dozens of soldiers had expressed interest. He also said he planned to move them from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine, in some cases illegally.

“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan, since it’s such a corrupt country,” he said.

Routh also told NYT at the time that he was in Washington to meet with the US Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe “for two hours” to help push for more support for Ukraine.

Routh appears to have been engaged in recruitment efforts right up until as recently as July.

One Facebook post from July read in part: “Soldiers, please do not call me. We are still trying to get Ukraine to accept Afghan soldiers and hope to have some answers in the coming months… please have patience.”

The suspect, who has been named in US media as Ryan Wesley Routh, was charged and convicted of several felony offences in Guilford County North Carolina between 2002 and 2010, a law enforcement source tells the BBC's US partner CBS News.

These include carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest, a hit-and-run offence, driving with a revoked licence and possessing stolen property.

One issue investigators will have to establish is whether the suspect named by US media, Ryan Wesley Routh, was working with anyone, says former federal prosecutor Joseph Moreno.

"Was this a conspiracy or was he truly a lone gunman? I would say we are at least a few days before we will really know what happened here," he tells BBC News.

Moreno also cautions against jumping to conclusions.

"Evidence will trickle out, but this is at the investigative phase right now. I will only really trust what we are hearing from official reports, not what you see on social media," he says.

Image source, Reuters

Throngs of Donald Trump supporters gathered around the former president's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, in the wake of the apparent assassination attempt, as well as around the golf club where the incident took place.

The supporters, some of them wearing MAGA caps, waved banners, placards and American flags modified to include slogans such as "AMERICA FIRST".

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Martin County Sheriff William Snyder earlier thanked the officers "who put their lives at significant risk" to the detain suspect and a vehicle near Donald Trump's golf course.

Describing the action taken, Bradshaw says two officers picked up on the vehicle and followed it, before eventually containing it using a vehicle used for specialised stops.

Several people that have been in contact with Donald Trump say he is "in good spirits", and has recounted the incident to friends, family and advisers, the BBC's US partner CBS News reports.

He has even joked about wishing he had finished a last round of golf, they say.

Trump also praised the Secret Service for their response and said he will continue campaigning this week, the report adds.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis says his state will conduct its own investigation into the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

"The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president," DeSantis says in a post on X, external.

Members of the Congressional task force looking into the attempted assassination of Donald Trump in July say they have requested a briefing with the Secret Service about what happened this afternoon, and how security services responded.

The Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigned this summer after the previous assassination attempt, which raised questions about possible security failures within the agency.

"We are thankful that the former president was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms," said lawmakers Mike Kelly, a Republican, and Jason Crow, a Democrat, in a statement.

US President Joe Biden has just issued a statement.

He says he has been briefed on the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump, and thanks the Secret Service and law enforcement for keeping the former president safe.

"I am relieved that the former president is unharmed," Biden says.

Biden says he has directed his team to continue to ensure that Secret Service "has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former president’s continued safety".

The area around Donald Trump's golf course in Florida is under heavy lockdown and lined with law enforcement vehicles.

According to reporters for the BBC's US partner CBS News, there are active checkpoints around the course (which is about 15 minutes away from Mar-a-Lago, where Trump lives).

Image source, Mike Johnson/X

House Speaker Mike Johnson has called Donald Trump "unstoppable" after the apparent attempted assassination attempt on the former president.

Johnson, a Republican, says he and his wife, Kelly, spent a few hours at Mar-a-Lago with Trump today, as he shares a group photo on X.

"No leader in American history has endured more attacks and remained so strong and resilient. He is unstoppable," he writes.

Image source, Reuters

The Secret Service and local police have been praised for their quick response to the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

New images show a heavy emergency service presence on the roads and in the waters around the former president's Mar-a-Lago property in Florida, and his nearby golf course.

Image source, EPA

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Social media profiles show suspect's pro-Ukraine and conspiratorial postspublished at 01:01 British Summer Time 16 September

01:01 BST 16 September

By Mike Wendling

We’ve been looking at social media profiles which match the name of the alleged suspect Ryan Wesley Routh and have profile pictures that resemble a man allegedly pictured at the scene.

Routh was deeply involved in efforts to get foreign fighters into Ukraine to battle against the Russian Army.

One Facebook post from July read in part: “Soldiers, please do not call me. We are still trying to get Ukraine to accept Afghan soldiers and hope to have some answers in the coming months… please have patience.”

We’ve uncovered news reports and videos showing he travelled to Ukraine in the past. Donald Trump’s lukewarm support for Ukraine’s war effort has been an issue on the campaign trail, and we’ll expect to hear more about the suspect’s possible ties to Ukraine.

There are also pro-Palestinian, pro-Taiwan and anti-China messages on his profile, including allegations about Chinese “biological warfare” and references to the Covid-19 virus as an “attack”.

How could latest political violence impact Trump's campaign?published at 00:50 British Summer Time 16 September

00:50 BST 16 September

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Image source, Reuters

Donald Trump, in his first statement following this apparent assassination attempt, promised that nothing would slow him down or make him surrender.

The response fits into a campaign that has frequently centred on how the former president has become a target of persecution and attack because he speaks out for the “forgotten” Americans.

“They’re not coming after me, they’re coming after you,” Trump likes to say. “I’m just standing in the way.”

Now the former president has another dramatic example he can use to illustrate his point.

This latest incident may not pack the emotional heft as the shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, however.

That attack happened at a public rally, in full view of television cameras, with the former president bloodied and defiant.

This time around, the incident occurred on Trump’s golf course, with the former president more removed from immediate danger. Without graphic images to replay for days, it may affect how much of an impact this has on the public’s conscience.

At the very least, however, the apparent assassination attempt will generate new headlines that, at least temporarily, break from what has been a challenging past few days for the former president’s campaign.

• You can read more of my analysis here

Earlier, a motorcade made up of about a dozen vehicles was seen driving near Donald Trump's golf course in Florida - the site of the apparent assassination attempt on the former US president.

Tim Walz says he is "glad to hear that Donald Trump is safe".

"Violence has no place in our country. It is not who we are as a country," the Democratic vice-presidential nominee writes on X, external.

Walz's running mate Kamala Harris released a similar statement earlier, saying she had been briefed on the reports of gunshots.

"I am glad he is safe," she wrote.

"My father is running out of lives here," the former president's son, Eric Trump, told Fox News. "How many more rifles are going to come within assassination distance of my father?"

The former president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, has also written or reposted a series of tweets linking the incident with "leftwing propaganda".

Pascal Fletcher
Latin American specialist, BBC Monitoring

Image source, Reuters

Mexico's president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum and the country's outgoing president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, both quickly condemned the 15 September shooting incident being described by the FBI as an apparent "attempted assassination" of former US President Donald Trump.

"We condemn the aggression against ex-president Trump. Peace must always guide the processes of democracy," Sheinbaum, who will assume the Mexican presidency from Lopez Obrador on 1 October, posted on X, external.

Outgoing left-wing Mexican head of state Lopez Obrador also reacted swiftly to the incident reported at Trump's Florida golf course, even though he said the full circumstances were not completely known.

"We lament the violence against ex-President Donald Trump. The path is democracy and peace," Obrador wrote on X, external.

Incoming Mexican president Sheinbaum, who will be Mexico's first female head of state, has made clear she and her government are prepared to work with whoever eventually wins the US presidential election on 5 November.

What do we know about the shooter’s location?published at 00:17 British Summer Time 16 September

00:17 BST 16 September

By Jake Horton

At the press conference earlier, the county sheriff said that the shooter was set up in the bushes on the edge of the golf course near holes five, six and seven.

“One of them runs parallel to Summit Boulevard and one of the them runs parallel to Congress [Avenue], and he was in an area in the shrubbery where he could see both holes,” the sheriff said.

It’s unclear exactly where the shooter was in the shrubbery at this stage, but below you can see the area of the Trump International Golf Course the sheriff was talking about.

You can see lines of thick shrubbery along Congress Avenue (the road on the right) which would have given some cover to the suspect, if he had been hiding there.

Officials also said that Trump was about 300-500 yards (274-557m) away from the shooter, and the secret service agents were a hole or two ahead of the former president when they spotted the suspect.

The shooter fled to a car after he was spotted, according to officials, and he was later stopped and arrested on the I-95 highway not far from the golf course.

Image source, BBC Verify