Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Wesley Routh had dozens of run-ins with the law and was outspoken on political issues, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Former President Trump survived a second assassination attempt in just two months over the weekend after the U.S. Secret Service opened fire on an armed man near a fence as the billionaire candidate golfed in Florida.
Police recovered an SKS rifle that the suspect allegedly aimed through a fence at the edge of the course.
But as additional details about the suspect emerge, he appears to be a radical activist incensed by geopolitical conflict and a repeat offender with a violent felony conviction to match his ideological online posts, which are under investigation by the FBI.
In the years before his arrest on Sunday, suspect Ryan Wesley Routh had dozens of run-ins with the law and was outspoken on political issues, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Based on information from federal and local law enforcement, here’s a timeline of the final hours of his plot.Sunday, Sept. 15
1:59 a.m.: Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh arrived in the “vicinity”, according to court documents. Federal prosecutors allege that phone pings showed him in the tree line at the edge of the golf course for nearly 12 hours, leaving after Secret Service agents saw him and opened fire in the early afternoon.
1:30 p.m. ET: Dispatchers in Palm Beach County received reports of shots fired at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach as the former president was playing a round.
A Secret Service agent sweeping the area several hundred yards ahead of the former president spotted a man aiming an SKS rifle through the fence and opened fire. The suspect fled in a Nissan SUV and left behind two bags, a camera and the rifle.
2:14 p.m.: Deputies from both the Palm Beach and Martin County sheriff’s offices stopped the suspect’s vehicle on Interstate 95, according to court documents.
Routh was the only one inside, and when asked if he knew why he was being pulled over, he allegedly “responded in the affirmative.” Deputies noted that the license plate on Routh’s Nissan allegedly belonged to a stolen Ford truck.
2:23 p.m.: The Trump campaign issued a statement acknowledging the incident.
“President Trump is safe following gunshots in his vicinity”, wrote Steven Cheung, the campaign’s communications director. “No further details at this time.
