Can't? Don't say that to Paralympic archer Shaun Anderson

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Can't? Don't say that to Paralympic archer Shaun Anderson

2024-09-03 20:57 Last Updated At：21:00

PARIS (AP) — There's one thing you shouldn't say to South African archer Shaun Anderson, who has competed at three Paralympics after two life-altering incidents.

“I don’t believe in the word ‘Can’t,’ don’t say that word around me," Anderson says. “If you put your mind to it, you can do it."

He lost his left arm in a motorbike crash in 2004 and went to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games shooting compound archery standing up. A boating accident in 2017 then left him paralyzed from the waist down, so he learned how to shoot from a wheelchair.

At the Tokyo Games he reached the second round, and in Paris he went one stage further, the quarterfinals, where he lost 136-134 in W1 for athletes with impairments in the top and bottom half of their body.

The 51-year-old Anderson geed himself up by listening to South African rapper Jack Parow, and roused the crowd by vigorously waving his right arm before shooting through a device attached to his mouth.

“I knew if they got behind me, the personality I’ve got would just force me to shoot better,” he says. "We don’t have scopes and peeps (peep sights). We float in the yellow (center circle), out the yellow, and the heart’s pumping at 300 beats per minute and (suddenly the arrow is) going in the blue (ring far from the center),” he adds with a laugh.

Anderson is eyeing a fourth straight Paralympics at Los Angeles in 2028, but his other big plan — one close to his heart — is raising mental health awareness.

“Mental health is a serious thing. You need to talk. Find somebody and speak. It’s one of the biggest problems out there in the world," Anderson says. “I’ve seen top athletes win medals and then the next minute they disappear. You don’t know why and then you find out ..."

Anderson suddenly looked away pensively and didn't finish the sentence. He reflected on his own experience.

“I had to dig very deep because I got PTSD from my accident, I had to fight that," he says. “I’m very outspoken about PTSD.”

Anderson started suffering post-traumatic stress disorder following the boat accident off the coast of Natal in southern South Africa. He helped his wife, their two children and four others get off the boat when it was struck by a huge wave. After they jumped, Anderson slipped into the sea and the boat fell onto him. He was underwater more than four minutes and preparing to die.

“I knew I was drowning," he says. “I had made my peace.”

After leaving hospital, Anderson received another huge shock at home.

“My house burnt down."

His run of bad fortune also saw him hospitalized for three months in 2015 with septicemia after his colon burst.

Just three weeks before the 2021 Tokyo Games, Anderson's father died, sending him into severe depression. After Tokyo he didn't shoot for six months.

He encourages people to speak up if they are suffering.

“I put on a brave face for how long? To get yourself through, you've got to dig hard and you've got to speak to somebody. A lot of us athletes are ashamed to do that and we shouldn't be," he says. "So, for me, a big drive going forward is working on mental health and athletes. (People) look at us all the time and think we're having a great time.”

On arriving in Paris, he suffered a serious anxiety attack during a medical check.

“They put me in the MRI when I got here and that just triggered the PTSD,” Anderson says. “I thought I would just go and put my hand in there (but) they put my whole body in. I freaked out.”

With his competition over, Anderson plans to visit the Eiffel Tower and attend the closing ceremony this Sunday. A new wheelchair from a couple who sponsor him back home is expected to arrive the day before.

When he returns to South Africa, Anderson will start thinking about LA and continue working with Odyssey Archery, an indoor archery range for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. And telling them there's one word he doesn't believe in.

AP Paralympics: https://apnews.com/hub/paralympic-games

Trump was the subject of an apparent assassination attempt at his Florida golf club, the FBI says

2024-09-16 17:37 Last Updated At：17:40

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Donald Trump was the target of what the FBI said “appears to be an attempted assassination” at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, just nine weeks after the Republican presidential nominee survived another attempt on his life. The former president said he was safe and well, and authorities held a man in custody.

U.S. Secret Service agents stationed a few holes up from where Trump was playing noticed the muzzle of an AK-style rifle sticking through the shrubbery that lines the course, roughly 400 yards away.

An agent fired and the gunman dropped the rifle and fled in an SUV, leaving the firearm behind along with two backpacks, a scope used for aiming and a GoPro camera, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said. The man was later stopped by law enforcement in a neighboring county.

It was the latest jarring moment in a campaign year marked by unprecedented upheaval. On July 13, Trump was shot during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a bullet grazed his ear. Eight days later, Democratic President Joe Biden withdrew from the race, giving way for Vice President Kamala Harris to become the party's nominee.

And it spawned new questions about Secret Service protective operations after the agency's admitted failures in preventing the assassination attempt this summer.

The man who was detained had a calm, flat demeanor and showed little emotion when he was stopped, according Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.

“He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” Snyder said.

In an email to supporters, Trump said: “There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” He wrote: “Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!”

He returned to Mar-a-Lago, his private club in Palm Beach where he lives, according to a person familiar with Trump's movements who was not authorized to discuss them publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately clear how the development would affect his schedule or campaign dynamics. Trump was set to speak from Florida about cryptocurrency live on Monday night on the social media site X and had stops planned Tuesday and Wednesday in Michigan and on New York's Long Island.

An email to Trump campaign staffers obtained by AP said, “We ask that you remain vigilant in your daily comings and goings.”

“As we enter the last 50 days of President Trump’s campaign, we must remember that we will only be able save America from those who seek to destroy it by working together as one team.”

Biden and Harris were briefed on the matter and each issued a statement condemning political violence. Harris' added that she was “deeply disturbed” by the day's events and that “we all must do our part to ensure that this incident does not lead to more violence.”

Biden said he had directed his team to ensure the Secret Service "has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former President’s continued safety.”

In the aftermath, Trump checked in with allies, including running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and several Fox News hosts. House Speaker Mike Johnson said he spent several hours with Trump and called him “unstoppable.”

Fox News host Sean Hannity recounted on air his conversation with the former president's golf partner, Steve Witkoff.

They had been on the fifth hole and about to go up to putt when they heard a “pop pop, pop pop.” Within seconds, he said Witkoff recounted, Secret Service agents “pounced" on Trump and “covered him” to protect him.

Trump had returned to Florida this weekend from a West Coast swing that included a Friday night rally in Las Vegas and a Utah fundraiser. His campaign had not announced any public plans for Trump on Sunday. He often spends the morning playing golf.

Trump has had a stepped-up security footprint since the assassination attempt in July. When he is at Trump Tower in New York, parked dump trucks have formed a wall outside the building. At outdoor rallies, he now speaks from behind bulletproof glass.

The Florida golf course was partially shut down for Trump as he played, but there are several areas around the perimeter of the property where golfers are visible from the fence line. Secret Service agents and officers in golf carts and on ATVs generally secure the area several holes ahead and behind Trump. Agents also usually bring an armored vehicle onto the course to shelter Trump quickly should a threat arise.

The Palm Beach County sheriff said the entire golf course would have been lined with law enforcement if Trump were the president, but because he is not, “security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible.”

“I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there will probably be a little more people around the perimeter," Bradshaw said. “But the Secret Service did exactly what they should have done."

Late Sunday, Trump posted a message on social media thanking the Secret Service and law enforcement for keeping him safe, calling them “brave and dedicated Patriots,” adding that it was "certainly an interesting day!”

He was to be briefed in person Monday by acting Secret Service director Ronald Rowe about the investigation into the assassination attempt, according to a person familiar with the plan for the briefing who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Former presidents and their spouses have Secret Service protection for life, but the security around former presidents varies according to threat levels and exposure, with the toughest measures typically being taken in the immediate aftermath of their leaving office.

Trump’s protective detail has been higher than some other former presidents because of his high visibility and his campaign to seek the White House again.

The man in custody was Ryan Routh, three law enforcement officials told the AP. The officials who identified the suspect spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Records show Routh, 58, lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving to Hawaii in 2018. In 2020, he made a social media post backing Trump's reelection, but in more recent years his posts have expressed support for Biden and Harris.

Routh tried to recruit Afghan soldiers fleeing the Taliban to fight in Ukraine, and spent several months in the country, according to an interview with The New York Times last year.

The FBI was leading the investigation and working to determine any motive. Attorney General Merrick Garland was receiving regular updates. Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were helping investigate.

“The FBI has responded to West Palm Beach Florida and is investigating what appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump,” the bureau said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the state would do its own investigation, posting on X that, “The people deserve the truth about the would be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”

News reporters were not with Trump on Sunday. Bucking tradition, Trump’s campaign has not arranged to have a protective pool of reporters travel with him, as is standard for major party nominees and for the president. Harris does not have a protective pool at all times, but does allow reporters to travel with her for public events.

Snyder, the Martin County sheriff, said the suspect was apprehended within minutes of the FBI, Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office putting out a “very urgent BOLO” — or “be on the lookout” alert.

Snyder said his deputies “immediately flooded” northbound I-95 and “we pinched in on the car, got it safely stopped and got the driver in custody.”

Richer, Long, Tucker and Miller reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst and Michael Biesecker in Washington, Michael Balsamo, Jill Colvin, Michelle L. Price and Michael R. Sisak in New York, and Meg Kinnard in Houston contributed to this report.