The suspect in the attempted assassination of former US President Donald Trump, who is also the Republican candidate for the White House, was charged with illegal possession of a weapon on Monday when he appeared for the first time before a federal judge in the state of Florida.
Trump was at his golf club in Florida on Sunday afternoon when, according to his team, “gunshots” were heard nearby.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was arrested on Sunday after a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a rifle pointed at bushes at the Trump International Golf Course.
Rafael Barros of the U.S. Secret Service said agents deployed in a mobile security bubble extending one or two holes in front of the former president “confronted” a man.
Trump emerged unharmed. Police said Routh fled in a vehicle and was arrested a short time later.
According to Palm Beach County (Florida) Sheriff Rick Bradshaw, they found a telescopic AK-47 rifle, two backpacks and video recording equipment.
Routh has been charged with illegal possession of a firearm and possession of a firearm with the serial number obliterated. He is expected to face additional charges at a later court appearance.
Routh voted for Trump in 2016 but was “disappointed” by his tenure.
“I and the world hoped President Trump would be different and better than he was when he was a candidate but we were all very disappointed and it seems you’re only getting worse… I’ll be glad when you’re gone,” Routh wrote on social media X in 2020.
According to data from the North Carolina State Board of Elections cited by CBS, Routh voted Democratic in the 2024 primary election in North Carolina, where he was born, and voted in person.
His most recent address is listed as Hawaii, where he owns a construction company, but he spent most of his life in North Carolina, where he was born and went to college.
On his social media, he has also shown his support for Ukraine in its war against Russia. He even traveled to that country to enlist and help in the military in 2022, but as he explained on his social media, his age would not allow him to meet the requirements.
However, he encouraged Americans to join the Ukrainian military in interviews with several media outlets, including CBS and The New York Times.
Routh’s criminal record is quite lengthy. In 2002, he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction: a fully automatic machine gun, according to court records obtained by multiple media outlets.
Record also includes convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property, and hit-and-run. According to NBC, more than a hundred criminal charges have been filed against Ryan Routh in North Carolina.
The 25-year-old son of the man in custody told CNN on Sunday that it’s not unusual for him to “do something crazy, much less do something violent” like his father. “I don’t know what happened in Florida, and I hope things have been blown out of proportion,” he told the outlet.
In court on Monday, Routh said he has no savings, only has two trucks in Hawaii and has an income of about $3,000 each month. Routh is scheduled to appear in court for his bail hearing on September 23 and for his arraignment on September 30.
Trump has been subjected to two assassination attempts in less than two months. On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was only 20 years old, became the youngest person to be attempted to commit an assassination in the country since 1981.
The young gunman was shot dead by US Secret Service agents seconds after firing about eight shots at the president while he was attending a rally in Pennsylvania. Crooks used an AR-15 rifle purchased completely legally by his father.