After breaching Mar-a-Lago security, she picked up her mom at airport in bullet-riddled car
As agents sprayed an SUV with bullets while it plowed through two security checkpoints near President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, the driver managed to elude authorities in her bullet-riddled car.
Her next stop: the West Palm Beach airport to pick up her mother, according to sources familiar with the Friday incident.
Hannah Roemhild, 30, a trained opera soprano singer, picked up her mother at Palm Beach International Airport and together they checked into a local motel, where authorities tracked her down and arrested her that afternoon.
The windows of Roemhild’s SUV and the body of the vehicle were shredded from bullets shot by both Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputies as she breached the roadway security barricades and swerved around concrete barriers past Trump’s club, Mar-a-Lago, according to sources.
Roemhild, who is from Connecticut, was supposed to appear in Palm Beach Circuit Court on Saturday morning, but she refused to do so. She is charged with two state counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer after Friday’s wild chase through Palm Beach and past Mar-a-Lago. Her initial state court date was delayed to Monday.
Roemhild is also likely to be charged in federal court with assaulting a Secret Service agent with her black SUV as she broke through the two security check points on Southern Boulevard near Mar-a-Lago before crossing the bridge into West Palm Beach..
Roemhild’s bizarre behavior and violent confrontation preceded a weekend of festivities surrounding the NFL’s championship game, Super Bowl 54, on Sunday.
Her wild ride through the gauntlet of security checkpoints near Mar-a-Lago drew instant national attention, just as Trump was preparing to leave behind the drama of the impeachment proceedings on Capitol Hill to stay at his winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, on Friday night. It’s not clear where the president plans to take in the Super Bowl in Miami.
While Trump was flying down on Air Force One, federal authorities obtained search warrants to examine Roemhild’s SUV and motel room in the aftermath of the spectacular incident outside his private club on the wealthy island enclave.
Roemhild, who is being held at the Palm Beach County jail, is suspected of having mental health issues and may be involuntary institutionalized for a psychological evaluation under Florida’s Baker Act, according to sources familiar with her status.
“This is not a terrorist thing,” Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a Friday afternoon news conference. “This is somebody that obviously was impaired somehow.”
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time, but he arrived at the club Friday evening. The White House said the fracas would not disrupt the president’s travel plans.
PBSO, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service are investigating.
The incident began at 11:38 a.m. when Roemhild was spotted dancing on her black SUV at the Breakers resort and hotel, Bradshaw said. Security called an off-duty Florida Highway Patrol trooper, but Roemhild got in her vehicle. The officer tapped on her window. When it appeared Roemhild was preparing to reverse away, the officer broke the window. He then pursued Roemhild, who was said to be driving south erratically and at high speeds, but lost her in traffic.
Roemhild then approached Mar-a-Lago, about three miles south of the Breakers, driving the SUV through a staffed security barricade on a public road outside the club. Then she crashed through a second staffed checkpoint.
“The deputies and Secret Service agents that were there got out of the way just in time,” Bradshaw said.
As she continued toward the club’s main entrance, Secret Service agents and PBSO deputies opened fire, said Brian Swain, the Secret Service’s special agent in charge for Miami. Her vehicle was hit several times.
Roemhild managed to get away, driving her vehicle over the Southern Boulevard bridge and into West Palm Beach. Authorities lost her, although PBSO scrambled a helicopter into the air. During that time, Roemhild picked up another woman, believed to be a relative, Bradshaw said, before she was located and arrested.
The relative was her mother, sources said. She was not arrested.
Miami Herald staff writer Carli Teproff contributed to this story.
This story was originally published February 1, 2020 at 12:20 PM.
