A surprisingly calm and controlled arrest. The Martin County Sheriff's Office in the United States posted on its Facebook account on Monday evening the video of the arrest of the man suspected of having tried to assassinate former US President Donald Trump, Sunday evening, on his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida.
The thirty-five seconds of video, filmed by one of the officers' body cam, show Ryan Wesley Routh at the time of his arrest by local police, around 2:20 p.m. The police then identified his vehicle using a photo of his license plate provided by a witness and stopped him.
Heavily armed, the police officers ordered him to back up to them. The man, dressed in a pink T-shirt, approached backwards, his hands raised to the sky, and let himself be arrested, without saying a word. Later, the Palm Beach County prosecutor said that he had remained silent throughout his arrest. He was no more talkative during his first hours in custody, and neither confessed to the facts nor offered any explanations.
Suspect charged with illegal possession of weapon
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is a 58-year-old self-employed construction worker from Hawaii. He is believed to be the gunman who was hiding about 1,000 feet from the former Republican president on Sunday when Secret Service members opened fire after being alerted by a rifle barrel sticking out of a bush. The gunman did not fire, the Secret Service said.
A witness told authorities that he saw a man escape from the bushes on the edge of the golf course and get into a black Nissan car. The witness had time to take a photo of the vehicle and its license plate, which allowed local police to spot the vehicle on a highway and calmly arrest him.
Video“Alleged assassination attempt” against Donald Trump: who is the suspect arrested?
An SKS rifle with a scope was found, as well as two backpacks and video recording equipment, authorities said at a press conference. They quickly spoke of an “alleged assassination attempt.” Brought before a judge on Monday in Florida (southeast), he was charged with illegal possession of a weapon, due to his criminal record, and possession of a weapon with an obliterated serial number.
The telephone log of his phone also seems to indicate that he was near the golf course between 1:59 a.m. and 1:31 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to a court document.
His social media accounts show a great interest in current events. In addition to sharing pro-Ukrainian ideas, he regularly criticizes Donald Trump. According to the American press, he voted in the Democratic primary in March in the state of North Carolina, but is identified as a former Republican. It was also in this state that he barricaded himself, armed with an automatic rifle, facing the police in 2002.
