We know about the accused Gunman
A Democrat-Governor Statement on the Assassination of a Former Vice President and a Democratic Candidate: “The American Dream is Come to an End”
The president said that the acting head of the Secret Service is in Florida today, assessing what transpired and determining whether any further adjustments need to be made to ensure the safety of the former president.
In an event on Monday, President Biden said the ballot box, not a gun, is what resolves America’s differences.
I wanted to let you know I am okay, even though there were gunshots in my vicinity. The statement was sent out by Trump’s campaign.
Trump’s opponent in the 2024 presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris, condemned political violence, saying on Sunday that she was “deeply disturbed by the possible assassination attempt of former President Trump today.”
Routh was listed as not affiliated with any party when he voted in the recent Democratic primary election in North Carolina. He has written on social media — and in a self-published 2023 book — about voting for Trump in 2016 and regretting it.
Routh appeared in a federal courtroom in West Palm Beach on Monday, where he was charged with two gun-related offenses: possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Routh spent most of his adolescence in North Carolina before moving to Hawaii. He owns a business that builds portable storage units and tiny homes on Oahu. He has a digital footprint which shows Routh as a former Trump supporter who backs the war against Russia.
A license-plate reader system reported that the vehicle was on I-95, driving north toward nearby Martin County. The sheriff’s office in that county then pulled the Nissan SUV over around 2:14 p.m. and arrested Routh after the witness identified him as the suspect from the golf course, according to court records. Routh said he knew why he was being pulled over and was in the county jail.
Bradshaw says law enforcement then got a big break: “Fortunately, we were able to locate a witness that came to us and said, ‘Hey, I saw the guy running out of the bushes. He jumped into a black Nissan and I took a picture of the vehicle and the tag’ — which was great.”
Trump’s Golf Outings after the 2016 April 11 Collision: Detection of an SKS-Style Rifle by Secret Service Agents
Photos from the scene depict what looks to be an improvised sniper’s nest, with backpacks hung next to each other on the fence with a space in between them. The suspect may have meant for the ceramic tiles to be armor against gunfire.
At the time of Sunday’s encounter, Trump was one or two holes away — “probably between [300] and 500 yards” from the suspect’s location, Bradshaw said. It’s not a long distance with a rifle and a scope.
The center says that a gun used in two high-profile attacks in the last decade is an SKS-style gun. The June 2017 attack on a Congressional baseball game practice in Alexandria, Va., left five wounded, including then-House Majority Whip Steve Scalise and two Capitol Police officers.
The weapon was identified as an SKS-style rifle — its design slightly predates the AK-47 — according to the criminal complaint against Routh. The same rounds are used by both guns, and the gun that was used by the Viet Cong snipers in the Vietnam War was the SKS.
Bradshaw mentioned that the suspect had an AK-47-style rifle and scope in the bushes, two backpacks hanging on the fence with ceramic tiles, and a camera that he was intending to film.
While Bradshaw predicted Trump’s future golf outings might draw more security, he also commended the Secret Service’s actions, stating, “They provided exactly what the protection should have been and their agent did a fantastic job.”
Special agent in charge of the Miami field office, Rafael Barros, said at a news conference that Secret Service personnel opened fire on a man near the property line. The agents fired four to six rounds as they shot at the suspect from a long distance, he added. As of Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t clear whether the suspect had also fired his weapon, Barros said.
The weapon was spotted in an area of the golf course where three holes — 5, 6 and 7 — turn a corner close to an intersection where two large roads meet: S. Congress Ave. and Summit Blvd.
WIRED reveals the shooting of Ryan W. Routh, the former president’s golf buddy and a suspect in Greensboro, Florida
According to court records from the Guilford District Court in North Carolina obtained by WIRED, Routh was arrested by the Greensboro Police Department on December 16, 2002.
Routh’s cellphone provider provided data that suggested he was in the vicinity of the golf course for almost 12 hours from 1:45 a.m. to 1:31 a.m.
Routh, who was represented by a federal public defender, told federal judge Ryon McCabe that he has no savings to pay for his defense. He said he has a 25-year-old son and was wearing a blue prison jumpsuit and shackles.
It started on the Trump International golf course, where the former president was playing, and ended on the I-95 freeway where Routh’s car was spotted. It occurred two months after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa.
Ryan W. Routh, identified by the authorities as the gunman, wore a blue inmate jumpsuit on Monday to his first court appearance in Florida, less than 24 hours after his arrest. His conviction for possession of a firearm as a felon and possession of a firearm with a obliterated serial number carries prison sentences of up to 20 years.
The F.B.I. is looking into an apparent attempt to kill Donald Trump at the golf club in West Palm Beach. We know a lot about the suspect, the charges against him, how the episode unfolded and how Trump is reacting.
“One night I recognized him in his vehicle,” she says. “I knew he didn’t have a driver’s license, so I stopped him right in front of his roofing shop, which was what used to be on Lee Street in Greensboro. He stopped, and as I approached his truck he pulled a sack away from the center of the seat, and I saw a gun. So I pointed my gun at them and told them to show me their hands. He just pulled into his driveway and ran into his house. We had a call out and a standoff before the Special Response Team got there and arrested him.
Local reporting from 2002 states that Routh was pulled over by police for speeding. The police said at the time that Routh drove to the business and barricaded himself in.
Tracy Fulk tells WIRED that he was sure he was dead or in prison by now. I had no idea that he was continuing his escapades after moving on.