Former President Trump survived his second assassination attempt in just two months last weekend, when U.S. Secret Service agents opened fire on an armed man near a fence while the billionaire candidate was golfing in Florida.
Police recovered an SKS rifle that the suspect allegedly aimed over a fence at the edge of the course.
But as additional details about the suspect emerged, he appeared to be a radical activist outraged by geopolitical conflict and a repeat offender with violent felony convictions consistent with ideological online posts under investigation by the FBI.
Trump assassin suspect laughs and smiles at first court appearance in Florida
Ryan Routh, suspected of attempting to assassinate former President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at a golf course in West Palm Beach, is shown being handcuffed after being arrested for a traffic violation near Palm City, Florida, on September 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office/Distributed via Reuters)
Ryan Wesley Routh had made dozens of complaints to police in the years before his arrest Sunday and had been outspoken on political issues, particularly Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Based on information from federal and local law enforcement, here's a timeline of the final hours of his plan:
September 15th (Sunday)
1:59 AM: According to court documents, the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, arrived “in the vicinity.” Federal prosecutors allege that cellphone ringtones confirmed that Routh had been in a grove of trees on the edge of the golf course for nearly 12 hours, but that he left after Secret Service agents found him and opened fire in the early afternoon.
1:30 PM ET: Dispatchers in Palm Beach County received a report of gunfire heard at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, where the former president was playing.
A Secret Service agent searching a few hundred yards from the former president spotted a man pointing an SKS rifle over a fence and opened fire. The suspect fled in a Nissan SUV, leaving behind two bags, a camera and the rifle.
On September 15, 2024, at a press conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, photos of evidence found on the fence of former President Trump's golf course were released. (Kandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)
Witnesses saw Trump assassin suspect fleeing bushes, took photos of getaway car
2:14 PM: According to court documents, deputies from both the Palm Beach and Martin County Sheriff's Offices stopped the suspect's vehicle on Interstate 95.
Routh was the only person in the car, and when asked if he knew why he was stopped, he reportedly replied, “Yes, I do.” Police noted that Routh's Nissan had license plates that belonged to a stolen Ford truck.
Ryan Routh is accused of pointing an SKS-style rifle at former 2024 Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump while he was playing golf on a golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sept. 15, 2024. (Source: Fox News Digital)
2:23 PM: The Trump campaign released a statement acknowledging the incident.
“President Trump is safe following a shooting nearby,” campaign communications director Steven Chung wrote. “No further details are available at this time.”
Democrats call for Secret Service to expand Trump's security perimeter: 'Unacceptable'
Body camera footage released on Monday shows Ryan Routh, the suspect in an attempted assassination attempt against President Trump, being taken into custody on Sunday. (Martin County Sheriff's Office)
5:30pmFederal law enforcement sources identified 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh as the suspect in custody.
Records show that Routh had dozens of run-ins with police over the years, including a standoff with police in North Carolina in 2002, when he fled a traffic arrest and barricaded himself in the offices of a roofing company for three hours in the middle of the night. Greensboro News and Record.
He was later convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, which meant he could no longer legally own a gun. Authorities say the weapon was a homemade bomb with a 10-inch detonation cord and explosive caps.
Body camera footage released on Monday shows Ryan Routh, the suspect in an attempted assassination attempt against President Trump, being taken into custody on Sunday. (Martin County Sheriff's Office)
Monday, September 16
11AM: Routh appeared in federal court for the first time wearing a prison uniform and shackles, and shared several laughs with his court-appointed lawyer before the start of the 10-minute hearing, during which he listened attentively and answered all of the judge's questions.
During a press conference Monday afternoon, the FBI revealed that agents have obtained warrants for Routh's devices recovered at the scene and at a known previous address.
At least seven witnesses at the scene were interviewed, and Routh invoked his Fifth Amendment right to be provided with an attorney, according to FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri.
This courtroom sketch depicts Routh in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Routh is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. (Lothar Speer)
The FBI also said that in 2019, a tipster reported that Routh may be a felon illegally possessing a firearm in Hawaii. The tip was not confirmed, although the whistleblower was interviewed. The FBI did not interview Routh, and the details were forwarded to Honolulu authorities.
Before Sunday's assassination attempt, the suspect's online statements and a book he appears to have self-published portrayed him as an extremist who blames the former president and other targets, including Russia, for invading Ukraine.
He spoke about visiting Ukraine in 2022 and at least helping with the country's defense, according to news photos and articles. He was wearing a shirt with a political message and holding up a sign.
Former FBI agent warns that comparing Trump to a dictator could lead to assassination attempt
Former President Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
One photo taken by a Reuters photographer on May 3, 2022, shows the president holding a sign that read “World help us” as he attended a rally calling for international help to evacuate Ukrainian troops and civilians from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in Donetsk Oblast.
May 17, 2022: He attended a rally in Kiev calling on China to help besieged Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Mariupol, and on May 29 was photographed kneeling next to a square decorated with blue and yellow flags at another rally in Kiev.
In a global interview in 2023 News site SemaforThe article claimed he had spent about five months in Ukraine and was trying to recruit foreign fighters, including Afghans trained in the U.S. Ukrainian officials warned him in the article that he was “going a bit too far.”
“Feel free to assassinate Trump,” Mr. Rouse appears to have written in a passage aimed at Iran in his self-published book on the subject, “Ukraine's Unwinnable War,” The Associated Press reported Monday.
Screenshots from what appears to be Ryan Routh's X account show some of the content he has been sending to various high-profile users. (X)
Rouse also frequently posts about US politics, explaining that he was once a Trump voter but has changed his mind.
“I didn't support Bernie but I do now. Sleepy Joe stands for nothing. No plan, no ideas and just as ineffectual as Hillary. Bernie….show them hell….fight to the death….,” he supposedly wrote during the 2020 presidential primary.
Veltri said his posts are under investigation.
By Monday, the account had been suspended, but before that, Fox News Digital had investigated many of his messages, in which he openly called for cooperation, sometimes violently, from accounts with large followings to rally support for Ukraine and other causes.
As Russia-allied Belarus was in political turmoil in 2020, he asked his citizens: “Don't you have any guns?”
Former President Trump is at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida on February 8, 2021. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
“I would never let my friends get in the van,” he wrote. “It would be bloody.”
He then suggested buying a “sniper rifle” on Amazon, even though Amazon's policies do not allow the sale of firearms.
He also criticized President Trump, President Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders in June 2020, calling for the creation of a federal agency with powers to oversee state and local police departments after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
His posts can be inflammatory. He called on the Ukrainian military to ” [P]”Uttar Pradesh is dead and Moscow is a pile of rubble,” he said. To achieve this goal, he asked Elon Musk to sell him a rocket.
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“When you were my choice in 2106 I and the world had high hopes for President Trump to be a different and better person than the candidate but we have all been sorely disappointed. You seem to be getting worse and degenerating. Are you retarded?! I will be glad when you are gone,” he posted on June 11, 2020.
He also called on journalists, celebrities and politicians to amplify their calls for action.
Routh is due to appear in court again this month in the Trump case.
Fox News' Heather Lacey, Audrey Conklin and Molly Markowitz contributed to this report.
