Gunman at Trump golf resort arrested after police shootout
DORAL, Fla. — Gunfire erupted early Friday at President Trump’s Miami- area golf resort when a man shouting anti- Trump rhetoric draped a flag over a lobby counter and exchanged fire with officers in what one official called an “ambush” before being arrested, police said.
One officer broke an arm and the suspect was wounded by gunfire in the incident, which began around 1: 30 a. m. at the Trump- owned Trump National Doral Golf Club.
Trump 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. Police were preparing a search warrant to enter Oddi’s house, Perez said. His neighbors were evacuated Friday morning as officers swept the area looking for booby traps, Perez said.
“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 ambushtype attack,” Perez said.
In plotting the ambush, Perez added, “He did succeed and he did lose.”
Video footage showed the conscious suspect being wheeled into a hospital on a gurney.
Perez said the man took 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,” Perez said.
The man fired shots into the ceiling and waited for officers to arrive, he said. Four officers from Doral and one from MiamiDade quickly encountered 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,” he said. “They risked their lives, knowing 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 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.”
The Secret Service issued a statement saying agents from the Miami Field Office were at the scene and working closely with other agencies.
Court records in MiamiDade and Broward counties show no felony arrests for Oddi, but a slew of misdemeanor traffic infractions.
The golf resort previously known as the Doral Resort & Spa was purchased by the Trump Organization in 2012. Its website describes it as an 800- acre resort with 643 total guest rooms and four golf courses.