Ryan Routh, the man arrested on Sunday for perpetrating what the FBI categorised as an apparent assassination attempt on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, appeared in a Florida federal court on Monday where he was charged with firearms possession.
Appearing in shackles and wearing a blue inmate’s jumpsuit, Mr Routh (58) was charged with possession of a firearm while a former felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The hearing took place before a magistrate judge, with a formal detention hearing scheduled for next Monday. These are federal charges and it is anticipated that further charges are pending.
Although reportedly “shocked” by the incident, Mr Trump struck a defiant note on social media. On Monday he posted a message accusing his Democratic presidential opponent Kamala Harris and pointing to the slew of lawsuits he has faced as contributing to an atmosphere that “has taken politics in our country to a whole new level of hatred, abuse and distrust”, and claiming that because of “communist left rhetoric, the bullets are flying and it will only get worse”.
On Sunday, it emerged that a Secret Service agent had fired shots at the suspect later identified as Mr Routh after noticing what appeared to be a weapon protruding from bushes on the perimeter of Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the Republican nominee for the US presidency was playing. The agent in question was working in an “advance” role, scouting ahead of Mr Trump’s golf group.
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The former president was walking towards the sixth hole, which runs close to the perimeter where the suspect had obscured himself, when the shots were fired. The suspect fled the scene in a vehicle whose details were noted by a witness: Mr Routh was stopped and arrested shortly afterwards in the neighbouring Martin County. An AK-47 rifle, a rifle scope, a GoPro camera and protective body wear were retrieved from the location at the perimeter fence of the golf course.
[ Ryan Wesley Routh: What do we know about suspected Trump gunman?Opens in new window ]
On Monday, President Joe Biden found himself once again expressing thanks for the fact that his political rival had emerged unscathed from an apparent shooting attempt and he emphasised the need for enhanced security for political figures.
“Thank God the president is okay,” he said at an informal press briefing at the White House on Monday morning.
“The one thing I want to make clear is that the Secret Service needs more help and I think that Congress should respond to their needs if they in fact need more service people. I think they may need some more personnel.”
The Secret Service has been hampered by a high degree of turnover in recent years and in the summer, its director noted a shortfall in ideal staff numbers: it stands at 8,000 people rather than the preferred number of 9,500.
The Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe travelled to Florida on Monday to meet Mr Trump and to inspect the golf course.
In the hours after his arrest, it emerged that Mr Routh, an active and politically engaged social media user, is heavily invested in the Ukrainian cause and had travelled to Kyiv after the full-scale invasion by Russia to offer to fight in the war. A former roofing contractor who lived in North Carolina, he was convicted in 2002 of “possessing a weapon of mass death and destruction” after barricading himself inside a building in Greensboro.
Martin County sheriff William Snyder said Mr Routh had no known ties to the county. “I think we are finding out he is not from this area, which raises the bigger question of: how does a guy not from here get all the way to Trump International, realise the former president of the United States is golfing and is able to get a weapon in that vicinity? I think that is the question the FBI and Secret Service are laser focused on today: is this guy part of a conspiracy or is he a lone gunman?”
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