Five Things to Know, Sept. 16, 2024
1. A picture is emerging of the suspect who officials say pointed a high-powered rifle at former president Donald Trump on a Florida golf course Sunday afternoon. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was armed with an AK-47-style rifle and was allegedly 300-500 yards away from Trump when members of the former president's Secret Service detail spotted him, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. The suspect was a few holes ahead of where the president was golfing at the Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, officials said. Members of the Secret Service detail opened fire at Routh, according to law enforcement officials. It's not clear if he fired any shots. Bradshaw said a witness saw a man jumping out of the bushes and fleeing in a black Nissan. Officials got the license plate number, and the car was pulled over about 50 miles north of the golf course; the driver was detained and identified as the suspect. Law enforcement found the rifle, a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile and a GoPro camera in the bushes at the scene.
2. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed Monday that they shot down another American-made MQ-9 Reaper drone, with video circulating online showing what appeared to be a surface-to-air missile strike and flaming wreckage strewn across the ground. The U.S. military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Houthis’ claimed downing of a drone over the country’s southwestern Dhamar province. The Houthis have exaggerated claims in the past in their ongoing campaign targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.
3. Two Russian surveillance aircraft were tracked in the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone on Saturday, according to the North American Aerospace Defense Command. The IL-38 Dolphins remained outside U.S. and Canadian territorial airspace and were not deemed a threat, according to a Sunday news release by NORAD. Russian aircraft regularly operate in the area, according to the command. An ADIZ is a stretch of international airspace where aircraft are expected to identify themselves in the interest of national security. The zone is not a formal agreement between nations and not always recognized.
4. A mix of U.S. Army units will deploy to Europe this winter, taking up position in Poland and other areas as part of a troop rotation focused on shoring up NATO’s eastern flank, the service announced. The moves involve an armored brigade, aviation and artillery units, and a division headquarters. The Fort Stewart, Ga.-based 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division and its 3,500 soldiers are the centerpiece of the latest Europe rotation. The “Raider” brigade’s deployment is expected to begin in January, the Army said in a statement Friday.
5. Palestinian officials say Israeli airstrikes on Monday killed 16 people in the Gaza Strip, including five women and four children. A strike flattened a home in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least 10 people there, including four women and two children. The Awda Hospital, which received the bodies, confirmed the toll and also said 13 people were wounded. Hospital records show that the dead included a mother, her child and her five siblings. Another strike on a home in Gaza City killed six people, including a woman and two children, according to the Civil Defense, first responders who operate under the Hamas-run government.