Opera Singer Danced on SUV Before Running 2 Mar-a-Lago Checkpoints, Officials Say

The driver, Hannah Roemhild, 30, was charged with assault on a federal officer and deadly assault on sheriff’s deputies, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County said at a news conference Friday.

Roemhild was not injured, Teri Barbera, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said. The authorities said that they did not yet know Roemhild’s motive but that they believed she was unaware she was near Mar-a-Lago. It was not immediately clear how many shots were fired or if the vehicle was struck.

The president and Melania Trump, the first lady, were not at the resort at the time. They were scheduled to fly to Florida and arrive at the 20-acre resort in the evening.

The episode started about 4 miles from Mar-a-Lago, around 11:40 a.m., in the parking lot of the luxurious Breakers Palm Beach resort.

A Florida Highway Patrol trooper working on a security detail was notified by the security staff of a woman “displaying erratic behavior,” a spokesman for the patrol said.

She “was up on top of her car doing some kind of dance,” Bradshaw said.

As the trooper drove up, she got into her rented vehicle. The trooper tried to check on her and “observed possible signs of impairment,” the patrol spokesman said.

The trooper repeatedly tried to get her to respond by tapping on the window. When she did not respond — and it appeared she was going to drive away — the trooper tried to smash in the window and then pursued her as she drove toward Mar-a-Lago, the sheriff said.

The vehicle was traveling in excess of 70 mph when it got to Mar-a-Lago and crashed through two checkpoints. Deputies and Secret Service agents moved out of the way just in time, Bradshaw said.

As to why officials fired on the vehicle, the sheriff said the thought was “we need to take some action to disable the vehicle before it goes any further.”

Roemhild continued driving, with Highway Patrol and Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office helicopters in pursuit, according to a statement. At some point, she picked up a passenger, the authorities said.

“We believe it was by the airport,” Barbera said. The identity of the passenger was not revealed.

The authorities were seeking search warrants for Roemhild’s vehicle, Bradshaw said.

Efforts to reach family members of Roemhild on Friday were unsuccessful.

Roemhild graduated from Western Connecticut State University in Danbury, Connecticut, and embarked on a career in singing, said Margaret Astrup, a professor of music at the university who was her voice and opera teacher.

She said she had stayed in touch with Roemhild after she graduated in 2011 and spoke to her as recently as this month.

“What we’re seeing in the news certainly is not typical of her,” Astrup said. “It’s not consistent with the person that I knew.”

The professor described Roemhild as “very eager to succeed.” She said Roemhild had performed regionally in Connecticut, studied abroad and planned to attend graduate school this fall.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times .