Former president Donald Trump has escaped a second assassination attempt while playing golf at his private club in Florida. 

According to local authorities, a Secret Service agent was one hole ahead of Trump when he spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the fence, which was later found to be an AK-47 with a scope, at the Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach on Sunday. 

The Secret Service opened fire on the suspect, who fled the scene only to later be pulled over on the highway and taken into custody. 

The FBI said Trump had been the subject of “an apparent assassination attempt” at his Florida golf club.

Officials at a media briefing after the incident said a witness took a photo of the suspect’s car as he fled the scene, helping authorities track him down. 

The Secret Service officer who was on the course and spotted the weapon was praised for doing a “fantastic job”.

“What they do is they have an agent that jumps one hole ahead of time towards where the [former] 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,” the Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.

“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 ceramic tile in them and a GoPro, which he was going to take pictures with.” 

Trump posted an update on his social media platform to assure his supporters he was unharmed in the attempted assassination. 

“There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumours start spiralling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” he wrote.

“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me.”

The attempted shooting comes just months after Trump was injured during another assassination attempt in July while speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania. 

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