Who Is Ryan Routh? Man Arrested For Trump’s Alleged Assassination Attempt (image-X/TheRealThelmaJ1)
Former President Donald Trump was rushed to safety on Sunday following an alleged assassination attempt at his golf course in Florida’s West Palm Beach, stated FBI officials. The suspect, 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, was arrested after Secret Service agents opened fire near the boundary of Trump’s golf course.
Reportedly, the agents opened fire with four to five rounds of ammunition at Routh after they spotted him hiding in a shrubbery. The suspect dropped the rifle, two knapsacks, a scope, and a GoPro camera and fled in a black Nissan, as per officials. Routh was apprehended after the police chased and tracked him down.
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Routh is a former construction worker from North Carolina, Greensboro, according to the New York Times. Although he has no formal military background, Routh expressed, in an X post, his strong desire to “fight and die” in Ukraine after Russia’s 2022 invasion.
On the messaging app Signal, he wrote, “Civilians must change this war and prevent future wars” as part of his profile bio, reported the New York Times. In 2023, Routh told the newspaper that he had travelled to Ukraine to fight against Russia.
In 2002, Routh was reportedly arrested after he barricaded himself inside a building with a fully automatic weapon in Greensboro. According to CBS sources, between 2002 and 2010, Routh was charged and convicted of numerous felony offences in Guilford County in North Carolina. Some of the offences include carrying a concealed weapon, resisting arrest, possession of stolen property, driving with a revoked license, and hit and run with a motor vehicle.
“Fear not! I am safe and well, and no one was hurt. Thank God!” Trump said in a website fundraising message, as quoted by news agency AFP.
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The incident comes nearly two months after Trump was the target of an assassination attempt during a rally in Pennsylvania. The bullet, fired from a sniper, grazed the Republican candidate’s ear. The suspect, identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot dead at the scene by Secret Service snipers.
The US presidential elections are scheduled to be held on November 5.
