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A man who authorities said targeted former President Donald Trump at his golf club has been taken into custody with an AK-47-style weapon.
Trump was playing golf at the time when the incident took place. One of the members of the secret service noticed a rifle sticking out of from a fence and opened fire. The agent fired four to six shots before the suspect fled.The witness spotted the suspected shooter and captured a photo of the suspect’s vehicle and license plate which ultimately helped law enforcement officials locate the car driving north on I-95 in Martin County, one county to the north of Palm Beach.
Federal bureau of investigation (FBI) said that the attack appears to be an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the second time in two months there’s been an apparent attempt on the former president’s life, CNN reported.
The man has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh and is described as a white male in his mid-60s, found with two backpacks and a Go-Pro camera were also found with the firearm near the perimeter from where the suspect had fled.
Who is Ryan Wesley Routh?
Ryan Wesley Routh is a 58-year-old White man, who has a lengthy criminal record from North Carolina.
The FBI or local authorities have not shared much details but as per the New York Post citing LinkedIn, the man had attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, but relocated to Hawaii sometime around 2018.
Routh describes on LinkedIn as “mechanically minded” and enjoying “ideas and invention and creative projects with artistic flair.”
The North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections has records for Routh going back to 2002. That year, he barricaded himself inside a business with a gun in Greensboro, per the Fox 40 citing News & Record.
In 2003, he was sentenced for driving without a license, carrying a concealed weapon and hit and run. In 2010 he was convicted of possessing stolen goods.
He was given probation for all of these charges, according to the DAC website.
North Carolina’s eCourts system has records going back to 1997 for charges such as no operator’s license.
In an earlier interview, Routh had also claimed to be a strong supporter of Ukraine, and stated that he travelled to Kyiv to fight in the ongoing war against Russia.
Routh was interviewed by The New York Times in 2023 for an article about Americans volunteering to aid the war effort in Ukraine. Routh, who had no military experience, said he had traveled to the country after Russia’s invasion and wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight there.
Routh’s political view
Routh frequently posted about politics on social media and exclusively donated to Democratic candidates and causes since 2019.
In an April 22 post on X, he criticised Trump, stating, “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.” He advised President Biden, who was running for reelection at the time, to focus his campaign on keeping “America democratic and free,” claiming that Trump wants to “make Americans slaves against master.”
Even after an assassination attempt on Trump during his rally in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden to visit the victims in the hospital and attend the funeral of a firefighter who died, suggesting that Trump would never do so, New York Post reported.
He posted on July 16, “SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL LEADERS DO.” In June 2020, Routh tweeted at Trump, expressing his disappointment with the former president’s tenure in the Oval Office, despite having supported him in 2016.
Trump was playing golf at the time when the incident took place. One of the members of the secret service noticed a rifle sticking out of from a fence and opened fire. The agent fired four to six shots before the suspect fled.The witness spotted the suspected shooter and captured a photo of the suspect’s vehicle and license plate which ultimately helped law enforcement officials locate the car driving north on I-95 in Martin County, one county to the north of Palm Beach.
Federal bureau of investigation (FBI) said that the attack appears to be an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, the second time in two months there’s been an apparent attempt on the former president’s life, CNN reported.
The man has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh and is described as a white male in his mid-60s, found with two backpacks and a Go-Pro camera were also found with the firearm near the perimeter from where the suspect had fled.
Who is Ryan Wesley Routh?
Ryan Wesley Routh is a 58-year-old White man, who has a lengthy criminal record from North Carolina.
The FBI or local authorities have not shared much details but as per the New York Post citing LinkedIn, the man had attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, but relocated to Hawaii sometime around 2018.
Routh describes on LinkedIn as “mechanically minded” and enjoying “ideas and invention and creative projects with artistic flair.”
The North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections has records for Routh going back to 2002. That year, he barricaded himself inside a business with a gun in Greensboro, per the Fox 40 citing News & Record.
In 2003, he was sentenced for driving without a license, carrying a concealed weapon and hit and run. In 2010 he was convicted of possessing stolen goods.
He was given probation for all of these charges, according to the DAC website.
North Carolina’s eCourts system has records going back to 1997 for charges such as no operator’s license.
In an earlier interview, Routh had also claimed to be a strong supporter of Ukraine, and stated that he travelled to Kyiv to fight in the ongoing war against Russia.
Routh was interviewed by The New York Times in 2023 for an article about Americans volunteering to aid the war effort in Ukraine. Routh, who had no military experience, said he had traveled to the country after Russia’s invasion and wanted to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight there.
Routh’s political view
Routh frequently posted about politics on social media and exclusively donated to Democratic candidates and causes since 2019.
In an April 22 post on X, he criticised Trump, stating, “DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose.” He advised President Biden, who was running for reelection at the time, to focus his campaign on keeping “America democratic and free,” claiming that Trump wants to “make Americans slaves against master.”
Even after an assassination attempt on Trump during his rally in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden to visit the victims in the hospital and attend the funeral of a firefighter who died, suggesting that Trump would never do so, New York Post reported.
He posted on July 16, “SHOW THE WORLD WHAT REAL LEADERS DO.” In June 2020, Routh tweeted at Trump, expressing his disappointment with the former president’s tenure in the Oval Office, despite having supported him in 2016.
