Suspect in alleged Donald Trump assassination attempt camped outside golf course for 12 hours, documents show

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — A man suspected of involvement in apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump According to court documents filed Monday, they set up camp outside a golf course with food and a rifle, lying in wait for the former president for nearly 12 hours until a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was charged with possession of a firearm after a prior felony conviction and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The Justice Department has not alleged he fired any shots. Additional and more sedate charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek a grand jury indictment.

Routh appeared briefly in federal court in West Palm Beach, opening a criminal case in the final weeks of a presidential race already marred by violence and upheaval. Although no one was injured, the event marked the second attempt on Trump’s life in as many months, raising up-to-date questions about the security he was given at a time of high-profile political rhetoric. It prompted Republican allies and even some Democrats to demand an explanation of how a potential shooter could have gotten so close.

Routh was arrested Sunday afternoon when authorities spotted a firearm sticking out of bushes at the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing. It was spotted by a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump’s security detail, who opened fire. Routh fled before being captured by law enforcement in a neighboring county, authorities said.

Body camera footage posted on Facebook Monday by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office showed Routh being arrested. The video shows him walking backward with his hands above his head along the side of the road before he was handcuffed and led away by law enforcement officers.

» READ MORE: 5 Things You Need to Know About the Alleged Assassination Attempt on Donald Trump at One of His Golf Courses

Underscoring the level of planning, Routh is believed to have been in the tree line of the golf course from about 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. Sunday, according to an FBI affidavit citing cellphone data. A digital camera, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag of food were found where Routh was standing, according to the affidavit.

The latest assassination attempt, coming just weeks after the July shooting at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in which Trump was wounded by a gunman, has accelerated fears that violence continues to infect American presidential politics. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump’s rival in the November election, condemned the thwarted attack, with Harris saying in a post on X: “Glad he’s safe. Violence has no place in America.”

“We will work relentlessly to ensure accountability and will bring every resource available to this investigation,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

Authorities did not immediately release any up-to-date details about Routh’s past or suggest a specific motive for the incriminating documents. But his extensive online presence suggests a man with evolving political views, which has led to a clear disdain for Trump and intense outrage over global events involving China and especially Ukraine.

“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published 2023 book titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and a “buffoon” both for the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and for the “huge mistake” of withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal.

Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must shoulder some of the blame for “the child we elected as our next president who turned out to be brainless.”

He also tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine will defend itself against Russiaand founded a website aimed at raising money and recruiting volunteers to fight for Kiev.

Voter records show he registered as an independent voter in North Carolina in 2012 and last voted in person during that state’s Democratic primary in March.

Since 2019, Routh has also made 19 miniature donations totaling $140 to ActBlue, a political action committee supporting Democratic candidates, according to federal campaign finance records.

One of the two charges he faces accuses him of illegally possessing a firearm despite numerous felony convictions, including two counts of possession of stolen goods in 2002 in North Carolina. The other charge alleges that the serial number was defaced and made illegible to the naked eye, a violation of federal law.

Prosecutors ordered Routh detained after determining he was a flight risk; further hearings are scheduled for later this month.

He spoke softly, responding to a federal judge’s cursory questions, saying he worked and earned about $3,000 a month but had no savings. Routh said he had no real estate or assets, except for two trucks worth about $1,000, both in Hawaii. He also said he had a 25-year-old son whom he occasionally supported.

This The arrest has focused up-to-date attention on the challenges of protecting Trump.Republican Party presidential candidate, not only at campaign events but also off the trail, often at his own clubs and properties.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s rivals in the Republican primary, said his state would conduct its own investigation into how Routh managed to get so close.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw noted at the briefing that because Trump is no longer in office, safety protocols around the golf course have been relaxed.

“He’s not a sitting president. If he were, we would have the entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, his protection is limited to the areas that the Secret Service considers possible,” he told reporters.

July 13, a bullet grazed trump’s ear after a 20-year-old gunman managed to get onto an unsecured roof during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.