How could someone shoot at him and miss? Or, was he meant to get away?
Routh did not get off a shot. The SS fellow saw the gunbarrel poking through the fence and shot at him. He missed. that shows poor tradecraft on Routh’s part, putting the barrel through the fence.
Bullet-proof ceramic plates in the two backpacks hanging from the fence.
Since he didn’t yet start shooting, what do you mean by “meant to get away”? Now if he shot and missed or shot and got Trump, I could understand “meant to get away”.
According to media reports, the SS agent on the inside of the fence perimeter recognized the protruding barrel of a gun held in the fence from its opposite side, where dense vegetation grew on the fence line, and upon that realization, pulled his gun and started shooting at what he could see.
The hidden perp ran away, jumped into his parked car, and “hit the road”. A person nearby saw this from outside the fence and believing it was suspicious behavior happening at the Trump golf course, followed him in their own vehicle, took a photo with their phone showing his car and license plate, and sent it to the county sheriff’s office.
Including info about what, where, why, etc they sent the pic and were following this vehicle.