A Florida sheriff’s office on Monday released footage of the moment deputies detained Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect of an alleged second Trump assassination attempt, showing a heavy law enforcement presence on an interstate.
Routh, 58, was charged with federal crimes in a Florida federal court on Monday in connection to an incident that the FBI has described as an “apparent attempted assassination” targeting former President Donald Trump on Sunday.
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told reporters that Routh was detained on Interstate 95 after deputies surrounded his vehicle, noting that Routh appeared calm and asked no questions during the event.
Body camera footage shows deputies instructing Routh to move to the side before several law enforcement officials grabbed him and placed handcuffs on his wrist near a black Nissan vehicle. In the footage, Routh says nothing.
A complaint filed by federal prosecutors said a Secret Service agent spotted Routh on the golf course perimeter and “saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line,” the DOJ said.
After the agent fired a service weapon at the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as the suspect fleeing the area. Routh was apprehended about 50 miles north in Martin County.
In addition to the rifle, officials discovered a black plastic bag containing food, a digital camera, and a backpack. Court documents say that he spent 12 hours waiting for the former president.
Sheriff Describes Arrest
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Snyder said that Routh “was just driving with the flow of traffic.”“I think that he may have thought he got away with it” if it wasn’t for a witness who saw him, Snyder said.
“Of course, he couldn’t have known that there was a witness who really did the right thing, took a picture of him, took a picture of the tag. And he was just going to drive himself back to wherever he came from,” he said.
Later, Snyder asked why an armed individual was within several hundred yards of the former president on his own golf course.
“I think that’s the question the FBI (and) Secret Service are laser-focused on today. Is this guy part of a conspiracy? Is he a lone gunman?” he asked. “If he’s a lone gunman, President Trump is that much safer because we have him. But if he’s part of a conspiracy, then this whole thing really takes on a very ominous tone.”
Social media posts reviewed by The Epoch Times show that Routh was an avid supporter of Ukraine in the Russia–Ukraine conflict that erupted in February 2022. He also had made critical comments about Trump on social media and appeared to have traveled to Ukraine on multiple occasions in recent years.
Records show that in the 2002 incident in North Carolina, Routh was charged with having possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
