Former President Donald Trump survived a second apparent assassination attempt in two months after the U.S. Secret Service fired on an armed individual, Ryan Wesley Routh, near Trump’s Florida golf course on Sunday.
Officials recovered a rifle with a scope and other items near the golf course’s outer fence after Routh fled upon being discovered. He was arrested later in the day by local law enforcement.
Around 2 a.m. on Sept. 15
Early in the morning on Sunday, Routh arrived in the area of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to court records. Phone pings showed that Routh was at the tree line near the golf course’s perimeter for nearly 12 hours and only left when the Secret Service saw him and his rifle, opening fire at him, prosecutors say.Between around 2 a.m. and the early afternoon, prosecutors say Routh was positioned in bushes at the club’s perimeter. A black bag that was filled with food was discovered near his SKS-style rifle, prosecutors say.
Around 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 15
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County told a news conference on Sunday afternoon that a Secret Service agent spotted the rifle barrel sticking out of the perimeter fence. The rifle and the suspect were between 400 and 500 yards from Trump.The acting Secret Service director, Ronald Rowe, said at a press event on Monday that the suspect was not able to get a clear line of sight on Trump.
Around 2:15 p.m. on Sept. 15
Authorities located Routh’s vehicle traveling northbound on Interstate 95 in Martin County. The county’s sheriff, William Snyder, told reporters that sheriff’s deputies initiated a stop of the suspect’s car at around 2:14 p.m., according to a criminal complaint filed against him.Routh was handcuffed outside of his vehicle, and the witness who saw him was taken to the scene to positively identify the suspect, Snyder said. Body camera footage shows a significant police presence near Routh’s vehicle, which was stopped along I-95, before he was taken into custody. In the footage, Routh appears to say nothing.
After 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 15
The Trump campaign released a statement saying that Trump was “safe” after gunshots were heard “in the vicinity.”Around 3:30 p.m. on Sept. 15
The White House confirmed to news outlets President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris had been briefed and were “relieved to know” Trump was safe. About 12 minutes later, at 3:42 p.m., Harris, the Democratic Party’s nominee for president, issued a statement on X, saying “violence has no place in America.”Around 4 p.m. on Sept. 15
Trump confirms that he is safe in a campaign fundraising email.Around 5 p.m. on Sept. 15
The FBI, the Secret Service, and local police and sheriff’s officials held a news conference to provide details on the incident. They released photos of the suspect’s weapon, several backpacks, and a GoPro camera. Initially, the weapon was described as an AK-47-style rifle, but officials clarified Monday that it is an SKS-style rifle.Around 5:05 p.m. on Sept. 15
The FBI told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that it is investigating the incident as “what appears to be an attempted assassination” on Trump.Around 5:20 p.m. on Sept. 15
Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) wrote on X that he spoke with Trump and said the former president was “in good spirits,” adding he would be sending a prayer.Around 9:20 a.m. on Sept. 16
President Joe Biden tells reporters that the U.S. Secret Service “needs help” and called on Congress “to respond to their needs if ... they need more servicemen.”Around 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 16
Routh appeared in a federal court in West Palm Beach on Monday and was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, both felony charges.Because the FBI has said that it is investigating the incident as an assassination attempt targeting Trump, it’s likely that more charges will be filed against the suspect. Routh has yet to enter a plea.
Around 4 p.m. on Sept. 16
Jeffrey Veltri, the FBI special agent in charge in Miami, holds a news conference on Routh and the bureau’s investigation. He said Routh had not spoken to law enforcement officials about the matter and requested a lawyer when FBI agents attempted to interview him at the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office.“Our FBI agents then attempted to interview him, and he invoked his right to an attorney,” Veltri said.
In the press event, Veltri detailed Routh’s criminal history as well as a 2019 tip about him possessing a firearm as a felon.
The SKS rifle, backpacks, ceramic tile that was found in the backpack, and Routh’s electronic devices were sent to the FBI’s laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, for testing, Veltri said.
After 11 a.m. on Sept. 17
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said that his state will conduct its own investigation into Routh and the apparent assassination attempt, separately from the DOJ. He said he will sign an executive order authorizing the state-run investigation.“In my judgment, it’s not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious, straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law, but not federal law,” DeSantis told a press conference Tuesday, referring to possible attempted murder charges.
In Years Prior
Routh over the years had several run-ins with the law. He was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to online North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records.Veltri, the top FBI official in Miami, told reporters on Monday that Routh had numerous felony charges for stolen goods between 1997 and 2010. Later, in 2019, he was the subject of a closed investigation when someone reported he was in possession of a firearm despite his felony convictions.
Veltri, however, said the tipster would not confirm making the report.
Social media posts that were apparently made by Routh, according to an Epoch Times review, showed that he was a strong backer of Ukraine in the ongoing conflict with Russia, even traveling to Kyiv to take part in protests. He also has made numerous posts about recruiting Afghan soldiers to fight in Ukraine or being stationed in other hotspot countries.
Multiple news outlets, including CBS News and the New York Times, have interviewed him on his recruitment efforts and attempts to get people to fight in Ukraine.
He has made multiple comments on X that were critical of Trump. In a book that he apparently wrote, he called on Iran to assassinate the former president.
“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published book in 2023, a copy of which The Epoch Times has obtained. The book is titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment and the Global Citizen-Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea and the end of Humanity.”
Routh made 19 small donations totaling $140 since 2019 through ActBlue, a political action committee that distributes donations to Democratic Party candidates, according to federal campaign finance records.
