The suspect who was charged Monday in the alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump did not shoot the former president. Here’s an update on what we know about the incident that is still shaking up the campaign for the November presidential election.
The circumstances
On Sunday, Donald Trump plays golf at his club in West Palm Beach, a 15-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida (southeast). Around 1:30 p.m. local time, a Secret Service agent, responsible for his protection, inspects the course in front of the Republican candidate. He spots “the suspect armed with what he thought was a rifle and immediately opened fire”said acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe on Monday.
“The suspect, who did not have the former president in his field of vision, fled. He did not shoot,” Mr Rowe stressed.
According to the conclusions drawn from the location of his phone, he spent nearly 12 hours in the vicinity of Donald Trump’s golf club – between 1:59 a.m. and 1:31 p.m. local time on Sunday – before being spotted.
Around the fence of the golf club were found an SKS-type assault rifle, with the serial number erased and fitted with a shooting scope, two bags and a camera, according to investigators.
The arrest
A witness told authorities he saw a man escape from the bushes on the edge of the golf course and get into a black Nissan.
The photo of the vehicle and its registration plate allowed the vehicle to be found on a motorway and the man to be arrested calmly 45 minutes later.
The license plate matches that of another vehicle, reported stolen, according to investigators.
Two charges
The suspect is Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old pro-Ukrainian American, a self-employed construction worker in Hawaii (west).
He appeared before a judge in Florida on Monday and was charged with illegal possession of a weapon, based on his criminal record, and possession of a weapon with an obliterated serial number. The charges carry maximum sentences of 15 years and five years in prison, respectively.
However, he is expected to face further prosecution.
His next appearance, on his continued detention, has been set for September 23 and his formal indictment a week later.
“Putin is a terrorist and we must put an end to him”he said in kyiv in April 2022, while taking part in a demonstration in support of Ukrainians trapped in the port city of Mariupol.
Suspect profile
Posts on his since-suspended X account provide a glimpse of shifting political views, supporting both Trump and Biden, as well as left-wing Sen. Bernie Sanders and Tulsi Gabbard, a former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who this year rallied behind Trump.
In several messages this year, he expressed his wish to see a Republican “ticket” run for president, made up of entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, opponents of Donald Trump in the primaries.
In a book he self-published in 2023 on the war in Ukraine, he said: “independent” on the political level: “It really tires me out when people ask me if I’m a Democrat or a Republican, I refuse to be put in a category (…)”.
According to a spokesperson for North Carolina’s election authorities, Ryan Wesley Routh is currently registered on the state’s voter rolls as an independent, meaning he is neither a Democrat nor a Republican.
In March, he voted in the North Carolina Democratic primary.
On at least two occasions (2003 and 2010), he was removed from the electoral rolls in North Carolina due to criminal convictions, according to the same Source. He re-registered each time after two years.
According to a spokesperson for Honolulu County, the suspect is also registered as a voter in the state of Hawaii.
A Biden-Harris bumper sticker — used by Democrats before the incumbent president dropped out of the race — is stuck to the back of a pickup truck parked outside Ryan Wesley Routh’s home in Kaaawa, Hawaii, in a photo taken Sunday.
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