WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump camped outside a golf course with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, lying in wait for the former president before a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire, according to court documents.

Ryan Wesley Routh did not fire any shots, never had Trump in his line of sight and sped away after being shot at by an agent who spotted him, officials said. He was arrested in a neighboring county.

Routh, 58, appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach to face federal firearms charges, starting a criminal case in the final weeks of a presidential race already touched by violence and upheaval. Though no one was injured, the episode marked the second attempt on Trump’s life in as many months, raising questions about the security provided to him during a time of amped-up political rhetoric and what the Secret Service chief called an “unprecedented and hyper-dynamic threat environment.”

Even as Trump’s Republican allies and some Democrats demanded answers about how a would-be shooter was able to get so close to Trump, Ronald Rowe Jr., the Secret Service’s acting director, offered a fiery defense of the agents he said were “rising to this moment” despite needing additional resources.

“Right now, we are redlining them, and they are rising to this moment, and they are meeting the challenges right now,” Rowe said, citing recent political conventions and other major events that required protective details.

Authorities continued to examine Routh’s potential motive and movements in the days and weeks leading up to Sunday, when a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s security detail spotted a firearm poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing.

The agent fired, and Routh escaped into a sport utility, leaving behind a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style assault rifle and a plastic bag containing food.

He had been at the golf course’s tree line from 1:59 a.m. to 2:31 p.m., according to an FBI affidavit that cited cellphone data. The FBI is continuing to investigate how long the Hawaii man had been in Florida, said Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office.

Body camera footage posted Monday on Facebook by the Martin County sheriff’s office showed Routh’s arrest. The video shows him walking backward with his hands over his head on the side of a road before being handcuffed and led away by law enforcement.

Coming just weeks after a July shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in which Trump was wounded by a gunman’s bullet, the latest assassination attempt accelerated concerns that violence continues to infect American presidential politics. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s challenger in the November election, denounced the thwarted attack, with Harris saying in a post on X: “I am glad he is safe. Violence has no place in America.”

“We will work tirelessly to ensure accountability, and we will bring every available resource to bear in this investigation,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The FBI has interviewed family members, friends and colleagues and has served a battery of search warrants to collect evidence. No motive has been disclosed, and Routh invoked his right to an attorney when questioned.

Authorities did not immediately reveal any new details about Routh’s background or allege a particular motive in charging documents.

Investigators are also examining Routh’s large online footprint, which suggests a man of evolving political viewpoints, culminating in an apparent disdain for Trump and intense outrage at global events concerning China and especially Ukraine.

One of the two counts he faces alleges that he illegally possessed his gun in spite of multiple felony convictions, including two charges of possessing stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina.

The other charge alleges that the serial number was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye, in violation of federal law.

Routh was ordered held after prosecutors argued that he was a flight risk, with additional hearings set for later this month.

He spoke in a soft voice as he answered perfunctory questions from a federal magistrate, saying that he was working and making around $3,000 a month, but has zero savings. Routh said that he has no real estate or assets, aside from two trucks worth about $1,000, both located in Hawaii. He also said that he has a 25-year-old son, whom he sometimes supports.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s rivals in the GOP primary, said his state will conduct its own investigation into how Routh was able to get so close.

“I understand that the feds are involved but we do believe that there were multiple violations of state law. We also believe that there’s a need to make sure that the truth about all this comes out in a way, you know, that’s credible,” he said during a news conference Monday morning. “I mean I look at the federal government, with all due respect to them, those same agencies that are prosecuting Trump in that jurisdiction are now going to be investigating this?”

The house of Ryan Wesley Routh is seen Sunday in Kaaawa, a small town located on the windward side of the island of Oahu, Hawaii. (Eugene Tanner/AFP via Getty Images)

Law enforcement officials work Monday outside of the Trump International Golf Club after the apparent assassination attempt of Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)