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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — The man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump camped outside a golf course with food and a rifle for almost 12 hours, lying in wait for the former president before a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire, according to court documents filed Monday. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, faces charges of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
He did not fire any shots and never had Trump in his line of sight, the Secret Service's acting chief said. Routh appeared briefly in federal court in West Palm Beach, starting a criminal case in the final weeks of a presidential race already touched by violence and upheaval. Though no one was injured, the episode marked the second attempt on Trump's life in as many months.
It prompted Republican allies and even some Democrats to demand to know how a would-be shooter could get so close. People are also reading..
. Routh was arrested Sunday afternoon after authorities spotted a firearm poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump played. He was spotted by a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump's security detail who opened fire.
Routh sped away before being captured by law enforcement in a neighboring county, the authorities said. Underscoring the level of planning involved, Routh is believed to have been positioned at the tree line of the golf course from 1:59 a.m.
to 1:31 p.m. on Sunday, according to an FBI affidavit that cites cellphone data.
A digital camera, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food were recovered from the area where Routh was standing, according to the affidavit. Coming just weeks after a July shooting at a Pennsylvania campaign rally in which Trump was wounded by a gunman's bullet, the latest assassination attempt accelerated concerns that violence continues to infect American presidential politics. Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump's challenger in the November election, denounced the thwarted attack, with Harris saying in a post on social media: "I am glad he is safe.
Violence has no place in America." "We will work tirelessly to ensure accountability, and we will bring every available resource to bear in this investigation," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement. Meanwhile, Trump claimed without evidence Monday that Biden and Harris' comments that he is a threat to democracy inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life, Be the first to know Get local news delivered to your inbox!.
