Left: Donald Trump playing golf at Turnberry golf course during his visit to the UK in May 2023. 71992040 (Press Association via AP Images). Right: Ryan Routh speaks in 2022 about what he was doing in Ukraine (Newsweek Romania).
The 58-year-old man arrested after yet another potential assassination plot against Donald Trump only faces gun charges to start, court documents from Monday reveal.
Ryan Wesley Routh, whom the feds identified as a two-time convicted felon from North Carolina, is accused of possessing a firearm while a convicted felon and for possessing a gun with an “obliterated serial number,” offenses punishable by up to 15 years and 5 years respectively upon conviction.
Reports of shots fired near where Trump golfed at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Fla., started to emerge Sunday afternoon, as authorities stated that a Secret Service agent spotted a rifle barrel pointing out of a fence hundreds of yards away from the former president. Authorities said that the suspect was detained after a witness spotted him leaping out of nearby bushes and heading toward a black Nissan, which the defendant allegedly then drove in the direction of Martin County only to be stopped and taken into custody.
In the bushes where Routh had allegedly hid for 12 hours, authorities claimed to find an AK-47-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks with ceramic tile inside, and a GoPro camera for recording.
While the suspect reportedly did not open fire, a Secret Service agent did — prompting Routh to flee, the feds allege.
“In the area of the tree line from which ROUTH fled, agents found a digital camera, two (2) bags, including a backpack, a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food,” a probable cause affidavit detailed. “The serial number on the SKS-style rifle was obliterated and unreliable to the naked eye.”
Since such rifles aren’t made in Florida, the feds said, there was “probable cause to believe” that Routh brought the rifle across state lines. In addition, the license plate on the Nissan he allegedly drove in was “registered to a 2012 white Ford truck and has been reported stolen.”
Routh has also has felony convictions going back to 2002 and 2010, the government said. The first conviction was for possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction and the latter was for possession of stolen goods, the documents said.
The FBI has already said that the weekend incident “appears to be an attempted assassination,” so time will tell if more serious charges will follow in Routh’s case. He appeared in court for the first time on Monday.
Read the charging documents here.
Alberto Luperon contributed to this report.
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