According to a criminal complaint, the alleged assassin, Ryan Wesley Routh, was spotted along a fence that he was using as a sniper position about 12 hours before Secret Service agents opened fire on him inside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Routh, 58, of Greensboro, North Carolina, who also lived in Kaaawa, Hawaii, was a federal Criminal charges He was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, charges that carry potential prison sentences of 15 years and five years, respectively.
Routh appeared in federal court in West Palm Beach for 10 minutes where the indictment was read to him. He is scheduled for arraignment on Sept. 30. A detention hearing is scheduled for Sept. 23, the federal court announced. Court records.
The FBI is investigating the incident as the second assassination attempt on former President Donald J. Trump since July 13.
According to an affidavit filed by the FBI, Routh was first seen along the fence outside Trump International at 1:59 a.m. on September 15, based on location data from his T-Mobile cell phone. He left the area at 1:31 p.m., when agents saw a rifle protruding from the chain-link fence and Secret Service agents fired at him, according to the complaint.
Police said Routh fled the scene, leaving behind an SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle, a GoPro camera, a backpack containing bulletproof plates and plastic bags full of food.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses saw Routh run over a fence, get into a Nissan SUV and flee the scene at a high rate of speed. The vehicle had the license plates of a stolen 2012 white Ford truck.
According to a criminal complaint, deputies with the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and Martin County Sheriff's Office spotted the Nissan traveling north on Interstate 95 and stopped it at 2:14 p.m.
“Routh was asked if he knew why he was stopped and responded in the affirmative,” wrote Special Agent in Charge Mark A. Thomas of the FBI's West Palm Beach Field Office.
Routh was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction (a Class F felony) in North Carolina in December 2002. Police said the weapon in question was a fully automatic machine gun.
A man with a gun barricades himself inside a storeLearn more
Greensboro police stopped Routh for a traffic violation around 10 p.m. on December 15, 2002. Police said Routh grabbed a gun, then fled in a vehicle and barricaded himself in United Roofing. According to a December 17, 2002 article in the Greensboro News & Record, Routh was arrested after a three-hour standoff.
In March 2010, Routh was convicted in North Carolina of multiple felony counts of possession of stolen property, according to the FBI.
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