Routh is currently in the custody of the Martin County Police Department, where he is facing both federal and state crimes.Â
The suspected would-be assassin of former President Donald Trump has been identified by officials as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58.
Few details have been verified about Routh, including a motive.
According to the official account so far, Routh allegedly took a position along the perimeter fence at the Trump International Golf Course at West Palm Beach, where he set up with an AK-47 style rifle, a GoPro, and two nondescript bags.
A Secret Service agent, patrolling the golf course ahead of Trump, who was at the fifth hole, noticed a rifle poking through the fence line and opened fire, at which point Routh fled. Routh was 300 to 500 yards from Trump, authorities said, and had a scope attachment on his rifle.
Routh was later apprehended on I-95 after a witness provided photos of his vehicle and license plate to law enforcement.
Routh is currently in the custody of the Martin County Police Department, where he is facing both federal and state crimes.
The incident might not be Routh’s first run-in with law enforcement.
According to a record search of the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction, a man named Ryan Wesley Routh has a prior rap sheet. It shows that in 2002 he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, referring to a fully automatic rifle, which were outlawed in the United States in 1986.
The Epoch Times hasn’t been able to independently verify it is the same Ryan Wesley Routh.
An archived X account under the same name as the suspect includes several posts expressing support for Ukraine, Taiwan, and NATO.
One post expressed interest in forming a volunteer force of Afghan soldiers to assist police in Haiti. The account owner also expressed interest in forming a Taiwanese foreign legion composed of NATO-trained Afghanis.
The account also reposted two posts supportive of Ukraine.
Someone of the same name also appeared in a New York Times article from March 2023.
By Jack Phillips, Joseph Lord, Melanie Sun and Samantha Flom
