Shropshire Star

Man arrested after ‘shootout with police’ at Trump golf club in Florida

One officer received a broken arm and the suspect was wounded by gunfire in the incident at the Trump National Doral Golf Club near Miami.

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Gunfire erupted at Donald Trump’s south Florida golf resort as a man shouting about the president exchanged fire with police in what one official called an “ambush”, officers said.

One officer received a broken arm and the suspect was arrested after being wounded by gunfire in the incident, which began at around 1.30am at the Trump National Doral Golf Club near Miami.

The president was not at the club at the time.

Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez identified the suspect as 42-year-old Jonathan Oddi, of Doral.

“We don’t know what his intentions were in the long term but we know what he was doing at the time — he was trying to engage our police officers in some kind of ambush-type attack,” Mr Perez said.

In plotting the ambush, “he did succeed and he did lose”.

Video footage showed the conscious suspect being wheeled into hospital on a trolley.

Mr Perez said the man tore down a flag from the rear of the complex and draped it over a lobby counter.

“He was yelling and spewing some information about President Trump and that’s what we know so far. And he had an American flag that he did drape over the counter,” Mr Perez said.

The man fired shots into the ceiling and waited for officers to arrive, he said.

Police from Doral and Miami-Dade quickly confronted him and exchanged gunfire. The man was arrested without further violence.

“You know, these officers did not hesitate one second to engage this individual that was actively shooting in the lobby of the hotel,” Mr Perez said.

“They risked their lives knowing that that they had to get in there to save lives in that hotel.”

Eric Trump, the president’s son and executive vice president of the Trump Organisation, tweeted: “A huge thank you to the incredible men and women” of the police departments, adding: “Every day they keep our community safe.”

Mr Perez said the Secret Service was on the scene and the FBI was on the way.

The Secret Service issued a statement saying agents from the Miami Field Office were at the scene and working closely with other agencies.

It added: “No Secret Service protectees or security operations were impacted as a result of the shooting.”

Police tape off an area by the Trump National Doral resort
Police tape off an area by the Trump National Doral resort (Frieda Frisaro/AP)

The entrances were blocked and yellow caution tape was stretched across the main gate. A Miami-Dade crime scene truck was parked inside the gate.

The resort previously known as the Doral Resort & Spa was bought by the Trump Organisation in 2012.

The Trump National Doral, which includes several buildings for lodging and an expansive clubhouse, is among the largest hotels in the Miami suburb, about eight miles from Miami International Airport.

Its website describes it as an 800-acre resort with 643 total guest rooms, more than 100,000 square feet of event space and four golf courses.

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