Man arrested after charging at Trump golf course with rifle
WASHINGTON — Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested on Monday by local law enforcement on Sunday as the FBI investigates a possible assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump. Appeared in federal court on two firearms charges.
Authorities found a rifle in the area where Routh fled Sunday, but Acting Secret Service Director Ron Rowe said Monday that Routh did not fire a weapon. Trump was not injured, his campaign quickly confirmed after the incident on Sunday.
Secret Service agents spotted a man with a rifle near the tree line at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and fired at the suspect. Republican presidential candidate Trump was playing golf at the time.
The incident was the second assassination attempt against Trump in two months and is currently under investigation. He suffered an ear injury during a July shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
The Trump campaign on Monday blamed Democrats and the media for the shooting.
“Democrats and the Fake News must immediately stop their incendiary and violent rhetoric against President Trump — a rhetoric echoed by yesterday’s would-be assassin,” the campaign said in a statement.
Rouse, 58, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon McCabe in West Palm Beach federal court and was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and defacing a firearm, court records show. serial number. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.
Routh was held in pretrial detention; According to criminal proceedings Submitted by FBI Special Agent Mark Thomas.
The FBI is leading the investigation.
Separately, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said The state will investigate on its own Investigating a possible assassination attempt to determine whether Rouse violated any state laws.
A detention hearing on the federal charges is scheduled for September 23, the U.S. Department of Justice said.
preliminary investigation
According to an affidavit accompanying the criminal complaint, at 1:31 p.m. ET on Sunday, a Secret Service agent was walking around the perimeter of the golf course when he spotted a rifle sticking out of the tree line. The agent fired a rifle.
Rowe said at a news conference Monday that Rouse did not see the former president and he did not fire his weapon.
“Agents who were visually clearing the area … saw the suspect armed with a rifle and immediately opened fire,” Rowe said. “The subject was unable to see the former president and fled the scene. He did not fire or fire at our agents.” gun.
Charging documents show Rouse fled in a Nissan SUV. A witness took a photo of the license plate, and local law enforcement stopped the vehicle in Martin County, which borders Palm Beach County.
West Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the witness was able to identify the driver as “someone he saw running out of the bushes and jumping into the car.”
Rouse was the only person in the vehicle, the complaint states.
According to charging documents, agents found Routh at the scene with a digital camera, two bags, and an SKS-style 7.62 x 39 rifle, a precursor to the AK-47 assault rifle law enforcement initially said they found Sunday. and a range.
They also found a bag of food and noticed the rifle’s serial number had been “visibly” obliterated, according to the filing.
Thomas noted that the weapon must also have crossed state lines.
“SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifles are not manufactured in Florida,” Thomas wrote. “Therefore, I believe there is probable cause to believe that the SKS-style rifles seized from the tree line at Trump International Airport … were circulated through interstate or foreign commerce.”
The police officer who stopped Rouse on Interstate 95 noted that the license plate associated with the Nissan was registered to a 2012 white Ford truck that was allegedly stolen, according to the indictment.
Law enforcement discovered a July 10 Facebook post in which Rouse instructed his followers to contact him via WhatsApp and listed a contact number, according to the complaint.
Phone records associated with the number show it was “located in the vicinity of the tree line area described between 1:59 a.m. ET and 1:31 p.m. Sunday,” according to the complaint.
Secret Service response
The incident occurred after July 13 assassination attempt Trump spoke at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, and the Secret Service’s response was heavily criticized.
then-director Kimberly Chettle Resigned and congress Bipartisan task force established investigating the July shooting.
Task force leaders Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., and Jason Crow, D-Colo., have asked the Secret Service to brief them on the security response to the West Palm Beach shooting.
Members of Congress are more appreciative of the Secret Service’s response to the Florida incident.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, praised the agency’s response in an interview on “Fox & Friends” on Monday.
“It’s my understanding that the agents who were with him yesterday saw the barrel of that gun in the bushes on the golf course. I mean, you know, it’s a hard thing to find. Thankfully The great thing is, they did it,” Johnson said. “But unlike Butler, they didn’t stop. They immediately drew their weapons and opened fire. I think that’s why this guy, the suspect, the shooter, threw the gun into the bushes and ran away.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on the Senate floor Monday that senators are willing to provide more funding to the Secret Service in legislation this month to keep the government open after Sept. 30.
“If the Secret Service needs additional resources, we are prepared to provide them,” he said. “Probably in an upcoming financing agreement.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said Sunday they had been briefed on the incident and condemned the political violence.
Previous Arrests, Ukrainian Activism
In 2002, Rouse was convicted in Greensboro, North Carolina, of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, a felony in that state. He was arrested after fleeing law enforcement and being held in a store for three hours. The Greensboro News and Record reports.
He was also arrested in North Carolina in 2010 for possession of stolen property.
The FBI is conducting interviews with family and friends in Honolulu and Charlotte, North Carolina, Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the bureau’s Miami field office, said at a news conference Monday.
He added that in 2019, the FBI received a tip that Routh was in possession of a firearm, but possession was illegal because of his felony record. When FBI agents followed up, the informant “did not verify that the initial information was provided,” Veltri said.
He said the agency referred the matter to Honolulu police.
Rouse gave an interview to The New York Times last year about his recruitment of Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Rouse, who had spent time in Ukraine and had no U.S. military experience, said he planned to illegally obtain documents to move the Afghan fighters from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine.
“We could probably buy some passports through Pakistan because it is such a corrupt country,” Rouse said in an interview with The Times.
He wrote an e-book, released on Amazon Kindle, about his experience in Ukraine, during which he became disillusioned with the country’s ability to win the war with Russia.
Kathleen Shaffer, who claimed Rouse was her fiancé, set up a GoFundMe in 2022 to help Rouse travel to Ukraine to fight in the war for 90 days.
Fundraiser has been removed but is available Access via network files.
“All funds will be used to purchase additional flags, tactical gear, any supplies needed for incoming volunteers, and hotel accommodations,” according to the fundraiser, which raised $1,865 of its $2,500 goal.
The National Newsroom called a phone number linked to Schaeffer but was unable to reach her.
Public records show Routh currently lives in Ka’awa, on the Hawaiian island of Oahu.
2018, Hawaii News Interview with Rouse about the Ka’awa rainstorms. Rouse spoke in the interview about a residential project he recently completed after buying a home a year ago.
