The man charged after what authorities said appeared to be an attempt to assassinate Donald Trump had been a vocal supporter of the former president before he grew radically disillusioned with him.Here’s what's known Monday about the suspect and the apparently foiled attack.
When and where did it happen?
Trump was playing golf near his Mar-a-Lago home in Florida just before 2 p.m. Sunday when a Secret Service agent saw a rifle with a scope in the bushes outside the course, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
Secret Service agents fired on the man, who did not return fire before he fled in a black Nissan, officials said.
"The subject, who did not have a line of sight on the former president, fled the scene," acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters late Monday afternoon. "He did not fire or get off any shots at our agency."
A Martin County sheriff’s traffic unit pulled over Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, and arrested him without incident on Interstate 95, authorities said.
What kind of weapons were involved?
An AK-47-style rifle was recovered from the scene near a fence by the golf course, Bradshaw said. Two backpacks and a GoPro camera were also nearby.
He has been charged with two federal crimes, possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with its serial number obliterated.
What had he been doing Sunday?
Cellphone records indicate Routh had been near Trump's golf course for about 12 hours before a Secret Service agent confronted him and fired at him, officials said Monday.
He was armed and had food with him, officials said.
What was his involvement with Ukraine?
Routh was very open about his support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion and has said he traveled to the eastern European country to see the battle zone.
But the extent of his work on behalf of Kyiv wasn't clear.
In an interview with Newsweek Romania in 2022, Routh said he had volunteered to fight for the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine but was turned down because of his age and lack of combat experience.
Instead, Routh claimed, he opted to help with military recruitment efforts in Kyiv. A representative of the International Legion told NBC News on Monday that Routh never served in the fighting force.
Did he support or oppose Trump?
Routh said in 2020 that he had backed candidate Trump in the past but expressed his disappointment with the Trump presidency.
He tweeted at Trump on June 10 of that year: "While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving ... I will be glad when you gone."
He appeared to be fully behind then-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard and her bid for the 2020 presidential nomination, which Joe Biden eventually won.
He later soured on Gabbard for what he perceived as her alignment with Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, writing on X in 2022, "why don't you go and Join Putin and trump and be their third wheel."
There was no immediate evidence in Routh's social media postings that he was ever a supporter of Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris.
He threw his 2020 Democratic presidential support behind Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., while deriding "sleepy Joe" who "stands for nothing; no plans, no ideas, just as limp hillary," he wrote on March 4, 2020.
Does he have a criminal history?
Records show more than 100 criminal counts have been filed against Routh in North Carolina. In 2002, court records state, he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction — a machine gun.
In that case, a man named Ryan Routh, 36 at the time, was alleged to have led authorities on a vehicle chase before he holed up at a roofing company in Greensboro, according to an account by the Greensboro News & Record.
What did he do for a living?
Routh had run a company, Camp Box Honolulu, building storage units and tiny houses, according to his LinkedIn page.
He was quoted in a 2019 Honolulu Star-Advertiser story about giving a structure to homeless people.
“As a community, if we can all come together and put our resources together, it would be extremely beneficial,” he told the newspaper. “All of us are tired of seeing the homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go.”
