Ryan Wesley Routh: Would-be Trump assassin has been charged in federal court
On Monday, September 16. 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, has been charged in Florida federal court with firearms charges related to an apparent assassination attempt at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on September 15.
Routh was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and made his initial appearance on Monday before Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach. A detention hearing has been scheduled for September 23. The investigation remains ongoing.
According to allegations in the criminal complaint, a Secret Service agent walking the golf course perimeter saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line. After the agent fired a service weapon in the direction of the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as Routh fleeing the area of the tree line.
Routh was about 300 to 500 yards away from Trump, according to a report from CNN. He never got a shot off and never even had the former president in his rifle’s sights. The would-be assassin ran off when Secret Service started shooting at him.
Related, see:
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The complaint alleges that in the area of the tree line from which Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a black plastic bag containing food. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated.
Routh is a native of North Carolina but is currently living in Hawaii where he was running a construction company. A background check revealed that Routh has an extensive criminal history and has had dozens of encounters with law enforcement dating back to the 1990s and was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010.
His list of arrests includes simple drug possession, driving without a license, expired inspection and operating a vehicle with no insurance. In addition, the Greensboro News & Record reported in 2002 that Routh was arrested after barricading himself in his roofing company’s office during a three-hour standoff that followed a traffic stop in which he put his hand on a gun before fleeing. ~ Fox News
After trying to flee the scene at Trump International Golf Club, Routh was eventually apprehended by officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. On the morning of September 16 at approximately 10:30 a.m., after Routh ran away from the Secret Service shooting at him, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shared the bodycam video of deputies stopping Routh on I-95 N as he was trying to make his getaway. See below:
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Apprehension images of Ryan Wesley Routh
(Image credits: Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
The FBI is leading the ongoing investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the U.S. Secret Service are providing assistance. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida and the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division are prosecuting the case.
You can view the criminal complaint here
For more on the charges against Ryan Wesley Routh, see the video accompanying this article.
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Posted by Richard Webster, Ace News Today
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