Details have emerged about the suspect who was arrested after an “apparent assassination attempt” on Donald Trump – with reports the alleged gunman said he had previously flown to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was identified by three senior law enforcement officials, Sky News’s US partner network NBC News reported.
He is believed to be the man shot at by the US Secret Service after gunshots were heard near to where Mr Trump was playing at his Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach in Florida on Sunday.
Follow latest: Suspect was ‘lying wait for Trump’
An AK-47 type assault rifle weapon and a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro device were recovered at the scene, Palm Beach County sheriff Ric Bradshaw said in a news conference.
It comes just nine weeks after Mr Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
What we know about the suspect
According to records, Routh lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving to Kaaawa, Hawaii, in 2018, the Associated Press reported.
In Hawaii, he and his son appeared to operate a company building sheds, according to an archived version of the webpage for the business.
Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state’s Democratic Party primary in March 2024.
Pic: Ryan Routh/Facebook
Campaign finance records show Routh has made 19 small political donations totalling around $140 (£106) since 2019 to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Court records show that Routh was convicted of possessing a machine gun in 2002, NBC News reports.
A local news report from North Carolina in that year details how a man named Ryan Routh led authorities on a vehicle chase before holing himself up at a roofing company.
The man was eventually arrested without incident and later charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possession of a weapon of mass destruction – referring to a fully automatic machine, Greensboro News & Record reports.
In relation to the incident at Mr Trump’s golf course on Sunday, Routh’s son has told CNN that he hopes “everything has been blown out of proportion” and that it would be unlike his father to “do anything crazy, much less violent”.
Oran Routh said: “Ryan is my father, and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man.
“I don’t know what’s happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion, because from the little I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent.
“He’s a good father, and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light.”
The gun, backpacks and GoPro found on Donald Trump’s golf course
Support for Ukraine
Routh is reported to have said he travelled to Ukraine in an attempt to help the country in its fight against Russia.
A video has emerged of an interview he gave to Newsweek in 2022 where he spoke about his efforts to recruit volunteers for Ukraine’s ground forces.
He says in the footage: “This conflict is definitely black and white… This is about good versus evil.”
Routh later says in the video: “Why world leaders are not sending military (to Ukraine) is beyond me. We’re going to have to elect new leaders the next go round, that have a backbone and have the fortitude to say ‘we’re not going to tolerate this type of behaviour (from Russia).”
He became emotional as he said: “When you talk to a 20-year-old guy, that’s sold everything he owns to come here to fight, that is heroism.”
Last year, Routh did an interview with the news platform Semafor in his role as the self-appointed director of a group he started called the International Volunteer Center – part of his efforts to try to help bring foreign troops into Ukraine.
He complained that the Ukrainian government was being too rigid about admitting some foreign soldiers.
“Ukraine is very often hard to work with… They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy,” he said.
Ryan Routh during a rally for support of Ukraine in Kyiv in 2022.
Pic: Public Broadcasting Company of Ukraine Suspilne/Reuters
Routh had tried to enlist Afghan conscripts by presenting himself as an off-the-books liaison for the Ukrainian government.
He told Semafor he was working to find a house in Pakistan to temporarily lodge Afghans hoping to fight in Ukraine.
Routh also expressed strong support for Ukraine in dozens of posts on X in 2022, saying he was willing to die in the fight and that “we need to burn the Kremlin to the ground”.
“I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE… Can I be the example We must win,” Routh said in an X post in March 2022.
Routh also used his personal Facebook account last year to encourage foreigners to fight in the war.
It has also emerged Routh wrote a book about the Ukraine war where he described how he “gave up and quit”, a decision he says makes him “the worst of humans”.
The book, called Ukraine’s Unwinnable War, is on sale on Amazon for £2.25.
He writes: “I am the failure, the hypocrite that wants the world to change but let communism beat me down and exhaust me and send me home.
“A mere 5 months and I run for home, not even with the first bit of mud, or cold, or the first bullet, and I am beaten and exhausted in the simplest elementary ground floor challenges of good and evil, and I fail.”
What happened at Trump’s Florida golf course?
Just after 7.30pm UK time, the Trump campaign released a statement to say Mr Trump was “safe following gunshots in his vicinity”.
It is believed the former president was taking part in a round at Trump International Golf Course in West Palm Beach at the time the shots were heard.
The FBI later confirmed it was investigating what “appears to be an attempted assassination of former president Trump”.
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Trump ‘apparent assassination attempt’ timeline
Palm Beach County sheriff Mr Bradshaw said the gunman was about 400 to 500 yards away from Mr Trump and hidden in shrubbery while the former president played golf at a nearby hole.
He said the Secret Service agent – who was patrolling the course ahead of Mr Trump – spotted a rifle barrel coming out of a perimeter fence surrounding the course.
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Secret Service spotted rifle, media told
“He immediately engaged that individual, at which time the individual took off,” Mr Bradshaw said.
Officials said it remains unclear whether the suspect fired first – or fired at all – or whether only the Secret Service fired.
Police ‘surrounded vehicle’ of suspect
A witness spotted a man, believed to be Routh, fleeing the scene in a black Nissan SUV and managed to take photos of the car and number plate. Police then alerted the neighbouring Martin County Sheriff’s Office which pulled over the vehicle and detained the suspect.
Police stop a vehicle believed to have been used by the suspect to flee the scene. Pic: Reuters
Martin County sheriff William Snyder told reporters his officers followed the suspect vehicle for a while before making a “felony stop”.
“Our road units picked the vehicle up and we waited a while. We didn’t stop him right away. We didn’t want a high-speed chase,” he said.
“So we were able to wait until we had adequate units, surrounded the vehicle, and forced it to a stop.”
Martin County sheriff William Snyder
A witness said he saw “20 or more cop cars flying from nearby streets” as he described the emergency response outside Mr Trump’s golf course.
“From what I saw, five black unmarked SUVs blocked in a grey Mercedes in front of the golf course,” Max Egusquiza told the AP news agency.
“There were about 20 or more cop cars flying from nearby streets,” he said.
Suspect was ‘lying in wait’
Mr Snyder told WPTV that Routh was “not armed” when he was taken out of the car.
He said he had a calm, flat demeanour and showed little emotion when he was stopped.
“The suspect did not question why he was being pulled over,” Mr Snyder said.
Palm Beach County’s state attorney Dave Aronberg later told MSNBC that Routh was “lying in wait” for Mr Trump and aimed at the Secret Service until the agent fired at him.
He said Routh was “pretty quiet” and “pretty compliant” with officers when they pulled him over and isn’t sure if he has said anything since he was taken into custody.
Mr Aronberg said he does not believe Routh would have to fire a shot in order for him to be charged with attempted assassination.
Mr Trump’s motorcade near the golf club
What has Trump said?
Mr Trump was taken back to his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach after the scare.
He later said in a fundraising email that he was safe.
“There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumours start spiralling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” the email said.
“Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER! I will always love you for supporting me.
“Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again. May God bless you.”
Donald Trump is safe after ‘gunshots in his vicinity’, according to his campaign team
Mr Trump’s Republican running mate, vice presidential nominee JD Vance, said he will be hugging his children “extra tight” and “saying a prayer of gratitude” after what appears to be an attempt on Mr Trump’s life.
“I’m glad President Trump is safe. I spoke to him before the news was public and he was, amazingly, in good spirits,” Mr Vance wrote on X.
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“Still much we don’t know, but I’ll be hugging my kids extra tight tonight and saying a prayer of gratitude.”
Meanwhile, Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Mr Trump’s top congressional allies, posted on X to say he is in “good spirits” after speaking with him.
Has the White House responded?
Shortly after details of the “apparent assassination attempt” emerged, the White House said in a statement: “The president and vice president have been briefed about the security incident at the Trump International Golf Course, where former President Trump was golfing.
“They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team.”
President Joe Biden later said in a statement that he had been briefed on the “apparent assassination attempt” and was “relieved that the former president is unharmed”.
“As I have said many times, there is no place for political violence or for any violence ever in our country,” he said, adding that he has directed his team “to ensure that Secret Service has every resource, capability and protective measure necessary to ensure the former president’s continued safety”.
President Joe Biden at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation’s Phoenix Awards Dinner on Saturday. Pic: AP
Kamala Harris, the vice president and Democratic presidential nominee, also said she was “glad” her rival for the presidency was safe after gunshots were heard “in his vicinity”.
Writing on X, she said: “Violence has no place in America.”
Ms Harris’s running mate Tim Walz said he and his wife Gwen were “glad to hear” the former president was safe.