Additional details have emerged about the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh.
Former President Donald Trump survived a second apparent assassination attempt in two months after the U.S. Secret Service fired on an armed individual, Ryan Wesley Routh, near Trump’s Florida golf course on Sunday.
Officials recovered a rifle with a scope and other items near the golf course’s outer fence after Routh fled upon being discovered. He was arrested later in the day by local law enforcement.
Additional details have emerged, including posts made by Routh suggesting that he was angered about the war in Ukraine. He was a repeat offender with a lengthy criminal past, including at least one felony conviction.
Around 2 a.m. on Sept. 15
Early in the morning on Sunday, Routh arrived in the area of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to court records. Phone pings showed that Routh was at the tree line near the golf course’s perimeter for nearly 12 hours and only left when the Secret Service saw him and his rifle, opening fire at him, prosecutors say.
Between around 2 a.m. and the early afternoon, prosecutors say Routh was positioned in bushes at the club’s perimeter. A black bag that was filled with food was discovered near his SKS-style rifle, prosecutors say.
A witness observed the suspect flee the the tree-lined perimeter of the course and leave in a Nissan SUV, according to an affidavit filed by an FBI agent Monday.
Around 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 15
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County told a news conference on Sunday afternoon that a Secret Service agent spotted the rifle barrel sticking out of the perimeter fence. The rifle and the suspect were between 400 and 500 yards from Trump.
The acting Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe, said at a press event on Monday that the suspect was not able to get a clear line of sight on Trump.
The suspect did not fire at Trump, and only the Secret Service agents fired, Rowe said. He added that the former president’s whereabouts at that time were not on his official schedule.
