A little over two months after an attempt on his life at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally, former President Donald Trump on Sunday faced the unthinkable yet again.

At his West Palm Beach golf club, Trump was targeted by a would-be assassin who was, fortunately, unable to carry out his deadly plans, and though the federal government is currently investigating the incident, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has since declared the initiation of a state probe of the alarming events separate from that of the FBI, as The Hill reports.

Alarming scene unfolds

What should have been a leisurely round of golf for the former president turned very serious over the weekend when a man, since identified as 58-year-old Ryan Routh, was arrested after a rifle barrel was seen poking out from shrubs not far from where Trump was playing, as Fox News noted.

Once Routh was spotted, a Secret Service agent reportedly fired in his direction, causing the would-be assailant to flee in a waiting SUV, though he was subsequently apprehended on I-95 thanks to the help of a witness who provided authorities with a photo of the suspect's vehicle.

Authorities recovered what was described as an AK-47-style rifle, complete with scope, two backpacks, as well as a GoPro camera in the shrubbery where Routh had been hiding.

Routh was taken into custody and made an initial court appearance Monday morning during which it was ordered that he remain behind bars for the time being due his assessment as a flight risk.

DeSantis takes control

Perhaps either out of frustration at the slow pace of the probe into the July attempt on Trump's life or simply because the latest close call happened in his state, DeSantis issued a statement on Sunday revealing his plans with regard to the incident.

“The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump international Golf Club,” DeSantis declared.

Explaining his decision on X, the governor added, “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.”

Speaking about his launch of a separate investigation on Monday, DeSantis said, “I understand that the feds are involved, but we do believe there were multiple violations of state law. We also believe that there's a need to make sure that the truth about all this comes out in a way that's credible,” as WPTV reported.

“I look at the federal government -- with all due respect to them -- those same agencies that are prosecuting Trump in that jurisdiction are not going to be investigating this. I just think that that may not be the best thing for this country.”

Broader questions remain

Sunday's events in West Palm Beach have only contributed to ongoing scrutiny and skepticism of the U.S. Secret Service as relates to the protection of Trump.

On Monday, Sen. Josh Hawley issued a new, 22-page whistleblower report detailing a host of agency failures related to the July events in Pennsylvania, describing his findings as “highly damaging to the credibility of the Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security” and stating that they “reveal a compounding pattern of negligence, sloppiness, and gross incompetence....”

Now that Trump has shockingly been the subject of two assassination attempts in almost as many months, Americans -- including DeSantis -- want answers not just to the criticisms and failings raised by Hawley, but also to the far more disturbing question of whether something even more nefarious has been afoot.