Shots fired near Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as black SUV smashes through checkpoints
- Officers arrest ‘obviously impaired’ driver Hannah Roemhild, 30, who led them on high-speed chase after she was seen dancing on top of car
- Incident occurred just hours ahead of US president’s planned arrival, but was not an intentional attack
Law enforcement agents opened fire on an SUV driver who smashed through two security checkpoints at Mar-a-Lago on Friday in what authorities described as the actions of “an obviously impaired“ driver but not an intentional attack on President Donald Trump’s resort.
The driver, Hannah Roemhild, 30, of Connecticut, who identifies herself on her Facebook page as an opera singer, was later arrested at a nearby motel. No one was injured, authorities said, and Trump was not at the Palm Beach club at the time, although he was scheduled to arrive there later in the day.
Roemhild was not at any time “even remotely close“ to getting into the “inner perimeter” of the president’s resort, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference.
He said Roemhild, “obviously impaired,“ was dancing on top of her vehicle outside the Breakers hotel, about 5km (three miles) from Mar-a-Lago, when an off-duty Florida Highway Patrol officer who was working hotel security approached her.
Roemhild jumped into the SUV and refused to open the window or acknowledge the officer, Bradshaw said. She then put the car in reverse and began driving away. The trooper smashed the window and tried to grab the steering wheel, but was unable to stop her, the sheriff said.