He FBI confirmed that the incident is being investigated as an apparent “attempted murder”The incident occurred at 1:30 p.m. local time in the Trump International Golf Club.
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Ryan Wesley Routh58 years old, He had an AK-47 style rifle and was between 300 and 500 meters away Trump when members of the Secret service They detected it, according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff, Ric Bradshaw.
Images of evidence found on the fence of US President Donald Trump’s golf course are displayed during a news conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP)
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He suspicious was located a few holes ahead of where the president was playing golfauthorities said.
According to the federal prosecutor’s office, The man was circulating for almost 12 hours in the vicinity of the golf course.
While Trump was moving between holes 5 and 6, one of the agents of the Secret servicewho was several holes ahead of the tycoon, He saw the barrel of a rifle sticking out from a fence between the bushes and fired several shots at the suspect.who dropped everything and ran away, AP reported.
There were four to five bursts of gunfire. It has not been reported whether the man returned fire at the Secret Service.
A witness who saw the suspicious While escaping, he managed to take a photograph of his vehicle, which allowed him to identify the license plate and arrest him shortly after, Sheriff Bradshaw said.
The arrest took place 80 kilometers from the golf course, on the I-95 freeway.
In this image released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office on September 16, 2024, Ryan Wesley Routh is shown after his arrest in Martin County, Florida. (AFP)
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In the place where he had hidden in the bushes, the police found an AK-47 rifle with a telescopic sighta GoPro camera and two backpacks with ceramic tiles.
On Monday, before the appearance of Routh in a federal court in West Palm Beach, police authorities revealed that the AK-47 rifle seized had the serial number erased.
Subsequently, Routh He was charged with possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
At his first appearance, he was seen handcuffed and wearing a prisoner’s uniform.
He said he has no savings, that the only assets he owns are two trucks that are now in Hawaii and that he receives about $3,000 a month in income. He also said that He is the father of a 25-year-old son.
The bail hearing was set for September 23, and the arraignment hearing for September 30, according to the EFE agency.
Opinion…
The effects of the attack on the electoral campaign
By Francisco Belaunde Matossian
International analyst
This case is going to be exploited by the Republicans. Even Elon Musk himself said why attacks are never made against Kamala Harris or Joe Biden, but against Donald Trump, raising suspicions. Then, the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantos, said that they were going to conduct their own investigation, as if he did not trust the FBI investigation.
Will what happened have a significant impact on public opinion? We’ll have to see what the polls say. There is also the narrative of Republican leaders who say that Trump has been saved twice by divine grace, that he is invincible. The question is to what extent this can convince independent voters or undecided voters. Because Trump supporters can certainly believe this discourse, but whether others will necessarily be convinced is another story.
On the Democrats’ side, I assume they will try to exploit the issue of gun control. It would be a good opportunity for them to use that argument in their favor.
The attacker is a rather unusual character. At one point he supported Trump, and in 2020 he supported Biden. He is a guy like the previous attacker, a lone wolf, inconsistent in his political positions. The typical profile of these people prone to violence who also have access to weapons. The incredible thing is that he also has a record for minor crimes and yet he had access to a weapon like an AK-47 rifle.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, the shooter of Donald Trump in Pennsylvania, was 20 years old. (Bethel Park School District).
On July 13, Thomas Matthew Crooks,
20-year-old attempted to assassinate Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania. He used an AR-15 rifle legally purchased by his father. The young man was shot dead by Secret Service agents seconds after firing about eight shots.
What is known about Ryan Wesley Routh?
Ryan Wesley Routh speaks during an interview at a pro-Ukraine rally in central kyiv on April 27, 2022. (Photo by AFPTV/AFP)
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According to authorities, Ryan Wesley Routh lived in North Carolina for most of his lifeIn 2018 he moved to Kaaawa, Hawaii, where he and his son operated Camp Box Honolulu, a shed-building company.
In his LinkedIn profile he stated that studied at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and graduated in 1998.
Records cited by ABC News show that the problems of Routh The laws date back to the 1990s and include minor charges for issuing bad checks.
In 2002, he was charged with possession of a weapon of mass destruction, a felony, according to North Carolina Department of Corrections records.
In another incident, He was charged with misdemeanors including hit and run, resisting arrest and a violation of the concealed weapons law, records show.
I was disappointed in Trump
A Homeland Security officer stands outside the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, where Ryan Wesley Routh is believed to be located. (EFE/EPA/CRISTÓBAL HERRERA-ULASHKEVICH)
In June 2020, he made a post on X directed at the then President Trump to say that would win re-election if he issued an executive order directing the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct.
That year, he also posted in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of then-U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaiiwho later left the party and supported Trump.
Then He said he was disenchanted with the management of Trump as president. “@realDonaldTrump Even though you were my choice in 2016, I and the world expected the president Trump was different and better than the candidate, but we are all very disappointed and it seems that you are getting worse… I will be glad when you leave,” he wrote in X.
According to CNN, last year, in his self-published book on the war in Ukraine and geopolitics, Routh criticized Trump as an “idiot,” a “buffoon” and a “fool.”
Routh wrote that the withdrawal of USAby order of Trump, of the Iran nuclear deal In 2018, it was a “tremendous mistake” that brought Tehran closer to Moscow.
He also gave his opinion on the political situation in Afghanistan and urged Afghan refugees to fight for Ukraine.
He wrote about Taiwan, North Korea and Venezuela and made comparisons between the authoritarian government of Nicolas Maduro and the assault on the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“We have reflected the devastating events (of Venezuela) with our own catastrophe of January 6th perpetrated by Donald Trump and his anti-democratic group,” he wrote Routh.
In an apparent reference to TrumpRouth wrote in his book that must take part of the blame for having been elected president: “But I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake.”
After withdrawing his support for Trump, Routh became a supporter of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In July, following the attempted assassination of Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh asked Biden and Harris to visit the hospital for those injured in the shooting and to attend the funeral of a slain former fire chief at the Republican rally.
In 2012 Routh registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina. In March 2024, he voted in the Democratic Party primaries in that state.
The AP reported that federal campaign finance records show that Since 2019, Routh has made 19 small political donationsfor a total of 140 dollars, to ActBluea political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Support Ukraine against Russia
Routh He frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website where He was looking to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to kyiv. and join the war against Russia.
“I come to Ukraine from Hawaii to fight for their children, their families, and for democracy… I will come and die for you,” he wrote in X.
In a post on LinkedIn, shared a photo of himself in kyiv.
In 2022, in an interview with Newsweek Romania, Routh He said: “My initial goal was to come and fight… but I’m 56 years old, so at first they told me I had no military experience, that I wasn’t the ideal candidate. Then they told me not at this time. So plan B was to come here to kyiv and promote more people to come… It’s about good versus evil.”
He called on people, even those without military training, to take up arms to help Ukraine and offered to help them connect with military units.
In 2023, he was interviewed by several news organizations, including The New York Times and Traffic light.
He told Semafor that he had not been able to convince the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense to “issue a single visa” for the soldiers he was recruiting.
Holly Williams, CBS News foreign correspondent, had been in contact with Routh for more than a year in the early stages of the war in Ukraine.
She said she contacted Routh because he was struck by his efforts to get foreigners to join the Ukrainian forces.
Williams stated that Routh He seemed very sincere and passionate in his support for Ukraine. But he also seemed rather naive, even when he spoke of his ambition to help bring thousands of Afghan and Syrian fighters to Ukraine to join the war effort against the Russians.
Williams last heard from Routh in November 2023, when he said he was back in Hawaii, according to CBS News.
