The man suspected of plotting to assassinate Donald Trump at the former president’s golf course in Florida until Secret Service agents intervened yesterday appeared “distant” and “showed little emotion” after his arrest.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was reportedly preparing to shoot the Republican presidential candidate at the Trump International golf course in West Palm Beach when a member of his security detail saw the barrel of a rifle shoot through the chain-link fence that borders the club.
Routh, who has been charged with two federal weapons counts, fled the scene when officers opened fire on his position, abandoning his rifle and other items, but was later arrested after attempting to flee north on I-95.
Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder, who was on the scene when Routh was taken into custody about a half-hour after he fled the golf course, recounted today how the suspect He was strangely calm when he was arrested at gunpoint.
Sheriff Synder said, “He never questioned what this was about.” Obviously, law enforcement officers with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it.
“He had a very, very distant, flat face. So I felt like it didn’t bother him,” she later told Fox News.
The sheriff’s comments came as President Joe Biden said the Secret Service needed more help to carry out its duties following what was an apparent second assassination attempt on Trump in just over two months.
This image released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office on Sept. 16 shows Ryan Wesley Routh after his arrest in Martin County, Florida, on Sept. 15, 2024.
The suspected gunman, registered Democrat Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, showed little emotion and remained calm as he was taken into custody.
The suspected gunman was identified as registered Democrat Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, while a backpack, a GoPro camera and a rifle were found at the scene that he left behind.
For the second time in just over two months, someone came dangerously close to killing the 45th president of the United States.
The gunman had a scoped rifle, a GoPro camera and two backpacks hanging from a fence.
Donald Trump shared his interesting take on the “interesting day” on Truth Social and praised the Secret Service and law enforcement for their “amazing job” just hours after the assassination attempt. (pictured: Trump at his New Jersey golf course in August 2023)
The West Palm Beach Police Department was notified of shots fired by the Secret Service around 1:30 p.m. local time yesterday after an officer spotted a possible shooter in the bushes at the Trump International Golf Club at Mar-a-Lago, West Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
The suspected gunman, Routh, was hiding about 300-500 yards from the 45th president, who was playing golf between holes five and six, when a Secret Service officer noticed something out of the ordinary protruding from the chain-link fence surrounding the golf course.
The officer, who was part of a team that stays one or two holes ahead of Trump on the course to protect against potential threats, realized it was the barrel of a rifle and “immediately lunged,” firing a burst of shots at Routh.
The suspected killer immediately fled the scene in a car, but later stopped and turned himself in to police.
Shocking footage released yesterday showed the tall, thin man standing next to a car holding his hands above his head and lifting his T-shirt to show officers he was no longer armed.
CNN and CBS reported that Routh was a self-employed affordable housing developer in Hawaii who had a lengthy criminal record and posted regularly about politics and current events.
He was considered a strong critic of Trump and a staunch supporter of Ukraine’s fight against the Russian invasion.
‘I AM READY TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER, FIGHT AND DIE… Can I be the example? We must win,’ Routh said in an X post in March 2022.
A month after that post, Routh was interviewed in kyiv, where he was taking part in a demonstration in support of Ukrainians trapped in the port city of Mariupol.
“Putin is a terrorist and he must be eliminated, so we need everyone in the world to stop what they are doing and come here now,” he told AFP.
It was revealed today that Routh also called on the Islamic Republic of Iran to assassinate Trump in a self-published book last year.
In “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War” – a book that lays out his views on Russia’s invasion of its neighbour and recounts his trip to the country in support of Kiev – Routh said he had made a terrible mistake by once voting for Trump, whom he described as a “buffoon”.
“I have to take some of the blame for the son of a bitch we elected as our next president, who turned out to be a brainless bastard, but I’m man enough to say I misjudged and made a terrible mistake and I apologize to Iran,” he said in one passage after chiding the former president for abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran.
“You are free to assassinate Trump and me for that error in judgment and the dismantling of the agreement,” he concluded.
The e-book is still available on Amazon for $2.99.
Routh, 58, is in custody after the terrifying incident at the Trump International Club almost exactly two months after another assassination attempt on Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Last year, Routh published Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: Democracy’s Fatal Flaw, World Neglect, and the Global Citizen.
Trump’s take on surviving a second assassination attempt as he praises Secret Service and police for saving his life on a Florida golf course
This comes after a bullet hit Donald Trump in the right ear during an assassination attempt on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The crisis averted yesterday comes just weeks after Trump was grazed in the ear by a bullet when a gunman gained access to an unprotected roof at his Pennsylvania rally in July, unleashing a hail of bullets that left one supporter dead and two others seriously wounded.
Trump himself took to social media shortly after the golf course was secured. praising the Secret Service and law enforcement for their “incredible work.”
‘I would like to thank everyone for their concern and good wishes. It was certainly an interesting day!
‘Most importantly, I want to thank the United States Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his brave and dedicated Patriots Bureau, and all law enforcement, for the incredible work done today at Trump International to keep me safe, as the 45th President of the United States and the Republican nominee in the upcoming presidential election.
“THE WORK DONE WAS ABSOLUTELY EXCEPTIONAL. I AM VERY PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!” he concluded.
The attempted attack on the former president is sure to raise fresh questions about the level of protection afforded to Trump just weeks before the November presidential election.
While the Secret Service has struggled to find ways to keep Trump safe as he campaigns around the country, holding rallies that often draw thousands of people, less attention has been paid to protecting him when he is not campaigning, often at his own clubs and properties.
The former president had just returned to Florida from a West Coast tour that included stops in Las Vegas and Utah, and had announced on social media that he would deliver a speech Monday from Mar-a-Lago about cryptocurrencies as he launches a new cryptocurrency platform.
Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, about a 10-minute drive from his Mar-a-Lago residence, is aOne of three golf clubs the former president owns in Florida, featuring 27 holes of championship golf and event spaces.
While Trump was president, press photographers were often able to capture images of him on the greens finding gaps in the bushes, but Sunday’s round of golf was not part of any public agenda.
It was unclear how the suspect knew Trump was golfing at the time, or what his motive was.
While the Secret Service has been praised for its swift action in thwarting the attempted attack on the presidential candidate, Trump allies have said more should be done to protect him, with Republicans demanding that Trump receive the same security as President Joe Biden.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, chairwoman of the House Republican Conference and a close ally of the former president, said she was grateful Trump was safe.
“However, we must ask how an assassin was allowed to get so close to President Trump again,” he asked in a statement.