(NewsNation) — A man who allegedly pointed an AK-47-style rifle through the fence at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach on Sunday, while the former president was golfing nearby, has been taken into custody, authorities say.
The man, identified to NewsNation by a law enforcement source as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is described as a white male. He is believed to be the suspect who was crouched in bushes near the golf club perimeter, armed with a weapon equipped with a scope. Two backpacks and a Go-Pro camera were also found with the firearm near the perimeter from which the suspect had fled.
Local authorities said the gunman was about 400 yards to 500 yards away from Trump.
Routh was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records.
-
The suspect dropped his weapon and fled in an SUV. Authorities found an AK-47 with a scope and a GoPro camera in the bushes where he was. They also located two backpacks full of ceramic tile hung on the fence. -
Northbound I-95 at 714 is shut down. Based on BOLO information released by Palm Beach County, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office has stopped a vehicle and taken a suspect into custody believed to be connected to a shooting incident at Trump International in Palm Beach County. -
Northbound I-95 at 714 is shut down. Based on BOLO information released by Palm Beach County, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office has stopped a vehicle and taken a suspect into custody believed to be connected to a shooting incident at Trump International in Palm Beach County. -
The suspect dropped his weapon and fled in an SUV. Authorities found an AK-47 with a scope and a GoPro camera in the bushes where he was. They also located two backpacks full of ceramic tile hung on the fence. -
Sheriff vehicles are pictured near Trump International Golf Club, Sunday. Sept. 15, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla., after gunshots were reported in the vicinity of Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump. (AP Photo/Stephanie Matat) -
FILE – Security agents talk at the entrance to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, March 31, 2023, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg told NewsNation that the suspect was not previously on local law enforcement’s radar. Routh, who reportedly has ties to North Carolina and Hawaii, had made “bizarre” social media posts about Ukraine before the incident.
Federal authorities have taken over the case, with Aronberg’s office standing down. The state attorney anticipates Routh will face charges related to domestic terrorism and weapons offenses, though specific charges have not been announced.
At approximately 1:30 p.m. local time, authorities received a call reporting shots fired at the golf course where Trump was playing a round of golf.
A witness told police the suspect fled the scene in a black Nissan and provided investigators with photos of the suspect’s license plate. Using that photo, authorities say they put out a “a very urgent BOLO (Be On the Lookout) for the suspect’s vehicle and plates.
Martin County Sheriff William D. Snyder said his deputies “immediately flooded” northbound I-95, deploying to every exit between the Palm Beach County line to the south and St. Lucie County line to the north.
“One of my road patrol units saw the vehicle, matched the tag and we set up on the vehicle,” Snyder said, “We pinched in on the car, got it safely stopped and got the driver in custody.”
Snyder told WPTV that the suspect “was not armed when we took him out of the car.”
The man had a calm, flat demeanor and showed little emotion when he was stopped by police, Snyder said, saying the suspect did not question why he was being pulled over.
“He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it,” Snyder said.
The post by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office indicated the suspect was apprehended near Palm City, Florida, about a 45-mile drive north of Trump’s golf course. Northbound lanes of I-95 were shut down, the sheriff’s office said.
Routh’s social media posts
Social media posts allegedly belonging to Routh indicate he was a believer in COVID-19 conspiracy theories, and he had posted that he had voted for Trump in 2016 but was disappointed with him after the fact, expressing support for Tulsi Gabbard in various posts.
Records show Routh moved in 2018 to Kaaawa, Hawaii, where he and his son operated a company building sheds, according to an archived version of the webpage for the business.
In June 2020, he made a post on X directed at then-President Trump to say he would win reelection if he issued an executive order for the Justice Department to prosecute police misconduct.
However, in recent years, his posts suggest he soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting at the hospital and to attend the funeral of a former fire chief killed at the rally.
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.
Federal campaign finance records show Routh made 19 small political donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates.
Routh’s Ukrainian ties
The New York Times said it interviewed him for a feature on pro-Ukrainian foreign fighters last year. The Times said Routh traveled to Ukraine in 2022 to recruit ex-Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight for the embattled nation.
Routh frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website where he sought to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kyiv to join the fight against the Russian invasion.
Routh had criminal history in North Carolina
Routh previously lived in the Greensboro area before moving to Hawaii sometime this year. Neighbors say he and his family moved to Hawaii in May.
Voter records indicate that he was an unaffiliated voter but did vote in the Democratic primary in Guilford County.
The North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections has records for Routh going back to 2002. That year, he barricaded himself inside a business with a gun in Greensboro, per the News & Record.
In 2003, he was sentenced for driving without a license, carrying a concealed weapon and hit and run. In 2010 he was convicted of possessing stolen goods.
He was given probation for all of these charges, according to the DAC website.
North Carolina’s eCourts system has records going back to 1997 for charges such as no operator’s license.
Law enforcement has not released any more information in the case.
Greensboro neighbor describes Routh
A woman who lived next door to Routh in Greensboro spoke to NewsNation affiliate WGHP on the condition of anonymity. She said she has known Routh for nearly two decades.
The neighbor described Routh as unusual but said she could have never expected him to be involved in something like this.
“Him, I mean, trying to shoot Trump. That’s a lot. I would have never guessed, and I would have swore up and down, no, that’s not him,” she said. “… I just can’t believe it. I mean, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I mean the pictures and stuff and all, then I wouldn’t be able to believe that.”
The neighbor said she wasn’t surprised to hear about guns being involved. She claims to have seen guns in Routh’s home over the years.
“I’ve seen the guns myself and all, and, yeah, they had a lot of guns and stuff over there, and, yeah, a lot of people were afraid of him back in the day,” she said.
She said she last spoke to him in May, just before he moved to Hawaii. At the time, she remembers that everything seemed normal.
“He told me it was the last day he was here and he hugged me goodbye, and, yeah, he actually hugged me,” she said.
The neighbor says that Routh gave her a shirt from Hawaii as a gift on that last day and hired her son to help with his move.
“I thought he was just living the life in Hawaii with the girlfriend and all, so for him to be assassinating the president, that’s just crazy,” she said.
NewsNation affiliate WGHP’s Emily Mikkelsen, Elijah Skipper, Justyn Melrose and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
