Shooting at Trump’s golf course: What we know about the alleged suspect – World

(Reuters) – A gunman attempted to assassinate Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Sunday at Trump’s golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, authorities said.

CNN, Fox News and the New York Times, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii. The FBI declined to comment and Reuters could not independently confirm his identity.

Here’s what we know so far about the suspected shooter:

GUN BARREL IN BUSHES

The Secret Service said its agents were accompanying Trump on the golf course when one of those in front of Trump, busy securing holes, discovered the barrel of a gun in some bushes near the property line.

Several agents tackled the gunman, firing at least four shots at him. The gunman then dropped his AK-47 rifle, two backpacks, a Go-Pro camera and other items and fled in a black Nissan.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said a witness was able to take a photo of the suspected shooter’s car and license plate and turn it over to authorities.

Shortly thereafter, sheriff’s officers in neighboring Martin County stopped the suspect on Interstate 95 and arrested him.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO UKRAINE AND DEMOCRACY

Reuters found profiles of Ryan Routh on X, Facebook and LinkedIn, and public access to the Facebook and X profiles was blocked hours after the shooting.

The three accounts bearing Routh’s name suggest that he was an ardent supporter of Ukraine in the war against Russia.

On April 21, Routh sent an X-message to Elon Musk, writing: “I would like to buy a missile from you. I want to equip it with a warhead for Putin’s bunker in the villa on the Black Sea to destroy him. Can you please give me a price?”

The New York Times reported that it interviewed Routh in 2023 for an article about Americans volunteering to support the Ukrainian war effort. Routh told the Times that he traveled to Ukraine and spent several months there in 2022, trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.

On Show X in 2020, Routh expressed his support for Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and derided Biden as “Sleepy Joe.”

Earlier this year, Routh tagged Biden in a post on X: “@POTUS your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA… make Americans slaves again. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we can’t lose.”

Adam, the suspected gunman’s son, who was reached by Reuters at the hardware store where he works in Hawaii, said he had not heard of the latest assassination attempt on Trump and had “no information.” He did not believe his father would do such a thing.

The reporter later called the store back and a colleague said Adam had gone home because of an emergency.

Another of Routh’s sons, Oran, told CNN: “I have no comment other than a character profile of him as a loving and caring father… I don’t know what happened in Florida and I hope things were just blown out of proportion.”