DORAL, Fla. — A man shouting about Donald Trump entered the president’s south Florida golf resort early Friday, draped a flag over a lobby counter and exchanged fire with police before being arrested, police said.
One officer received an unspecified injury, officials said.
Police were notified of an “active shooter” in the Trump-owned Trump National Doral Golf Club near Miami about 1:30 a.m., Doral Police Chief Hernan Organvidez told news reporters. He said officers from Doral and Miami-Dade confronted him immediately and exchanged gunfire with the man who was “neutralized” and taken into custody.
Officials said the arrested man was wounded.
Miami-Dade Police Director Juan Perez said the man was shouting about Trump, and “actively shooting.”
“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,” Perez said.
Trump was not at the club at the time.
Perez said a Doral officer received an unspecified injury.
“You know, these officers did not hesitate one second to engage this individual that was actively shooting in the lobby of the hotel,” he said. “They risked their lives knowing that that they had to get in there to save lives in that hotel.”
Miami-Dade police say a suspect yelled about President Trump before trading gunfire with police in the lobby of Trump’s golf club hotel near Miami. The suspect was arrested. (May 18)
Eric Trump, the president’s son and executive vice president of the Trump organization, tweeted early Friday, “A huge thank you to the incredible men and women” of the departments, adding that “every day they keep our community safe.”
Perez said the U.S. Secret Service was on the scene, and the FBI was on the way, but that local police were in charge for the time being.
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.”
The large golf facility in the growing suburb was surrounded by a heavy police presence Friday morning and news helicopters hovered over the scene. 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 golf resort previously known as the Doral Resort & Spa was purchased by the Trump Organization in 2012. Its signature course is the Blue Monster at Doral.
The Trump National Doral, which includes several buildings for lodging and an expansive clubhouse, is among the largest hotels in the Miami suburb. It’s about 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Miami International Airport.
Its website describes it as an 800-acre resort with 643 total guest rooms, more than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) of event space and four golf courses.
In June 2016, the PGA Tour announced that the prestigious World Golf Championship hosted at the Trump National Doral since 2007 would relocate to Mexico. The announcement infuriated then-candidate Trump, who called the move to Mexico a “sad day for Miami, the United States and the game of golf.” Trump said in a Fox News interview with Sean Hannity that, “I hope they have kidnapping insurance.”
PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said the move had nothing to do with politics, only finances. Cadillac did not renew its title sponsorship of the event, and another sponsor that wanted to be at Doral could not be found, Finchem said.
