A suspect was taken into custody Sunday and charged Monday after what the FBI is investigating as an attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump while he played golf in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Authorities identified Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old man with ties to both Hawaii and North Carolina, as the man arrested in connection with the incident.
No injuries were reported during Sunday’s incident, and Routh now faces federal charges. Here’s what we know about Routh and the incident so far.
The Secret Service opened fire at a gunman
Law-enforcement officials said a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking through a chain-link fence in the bushes near where Trump was playing golf Sunday at his course in West Palm Beach, prompting the Secret Service to open fire.
“We are not sure right now if the individual was able to take a shot at our agents, but for sure, our agents were able to engage,” a Secret Service representative said at a press conference shortly after the incident.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, who led the press conference, estimated that Trump was 300 to 500 yards away when the Secret Service agent spotted the rifle barrel.
According to a criminal complaint, Routh fled the scene after the Secret Service protection opened fire.
Routh was identified by a witness and detained
Bradshaw said a witness helped authorities identify the suspect using his vehicle.
“Fortunately,” he said, “we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, ‘Hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes — he jumped into a black Nissan, and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tag,’ which was great.”
Bradshaw said law enforcement used information from the witness to pull over the vehicle on the I-95 freeway in Martin County, north of West Palm Beach, and detain its driver. He said the witness later identified the driver as the person he had seen running from the bushes at the golf course.
A rifle with a scope was found at the scene
According to a criminal complaint, location data from a cellphone connected to Routh suggest he had been in the area near the golf course for roughly 12 hours before the apparent assassination attempt.
Police who searched the area of the fence found a SKS-style rifle with a scope and two bags tied to the fence, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint said the serial number on the gun had been partially damaged.
Authorities on Sunday said the bags contained ceramic and that officials also found a GoPro camera at the scene.
Routh was held Sunday and ultimately arraigned on charges of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, both felonies.
Neither charge makes mention of an assassination attempt, though further charges may be pending.
Routh was reportedly convicted on a weapons charge
The Associated Press, citing North Carolina government records, reported that Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
The AP said the records didn’t provide further details but separately noted that a 2002 story from the News & Record newspaper in Greensboro, North Carolina, reported that a 36-year-old named Ryan Routh had been arrested after a three-hour standoff with law enforcement in which he was accused of barricading himself inside a roofing business following a traffic stop. He faced charges including possessing a weapon of mass destruction, which the News & Record said was referring to a machine gun.
He once seemed willing to die in the Ukraine war
The New York Times reported Routh had expressed a desire on social media to die in battle in Ukraine’s war against Russia.
His bio on Signal, an encrypted messaging platform, read in part, “Civilians must change this war and prevent future wars,” the Times reported.
The former construction worker talked to the outlet in 2023 for a story about Americans traveling to Ukraine to aid in the war effort. The Times said he had no military experience but said he’d traveled to Ukraine and wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight Russia.
Routh has supported politicians on both sides of the aisle — including Trump
Routh wrote in a self-published book in 2023 that he had previously voted for Donald Trump, but then about faced in his support, The Associated Press reports.
In the book, titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” Routh wrote of Iran, “You are free to assassinate Trump,” according to the AP. Routh also criticized the former president for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and for his withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord.
The AP reports Routh has supported various politicians online, including Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Nicki Haley — and most recently Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Correction: September 16, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misidentified the gun recovered at the scene. Authorities ultimately identified it as an SKS-style rifle. The Palm Beach County sheriff had earlier identified it as an AK-47-style rifle, not as an AK-47. The story also misidentified which official said “for sure, our agents were able to engage.” It was a Secret Service official, not the county sheriff. The story was separately updated with new information.
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