The man behind a botched assassination attempt against Donald Trump at his Florida golf club has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh by multiple media reports citing anonymous law enforcement sources. Authorities have yet to officially confirm the suspect’s identity.
The incident occurred on Sunday afternoon while the former US President and Republican nominee was playing golf at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach. A Secret Service agent apparently spotted a rifle barrel sticking through the resort's fence and fired several rounds at the threat. The suspect fled the scene, leaving behind an AK-style rifle with a scope and a GoPro camera, but was later arrested.
”He was not displaying a lot of emotions. He never asked, ‘What is this about?’” Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told a press conference.
The suspect was reportedly “relatively calm” when the authorities detained him. Fox News has obtained a photo of the suspect moments after his arrest, while New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz has shared another photo of him being pulled out of his vehicle.
While the man’s identity and motive have not yet been officially confirmed by authorities, law enforcement sources told AP, CNN, and Fox News that the detained man's name was Ryan Wesley Routh.
A man by that name appeared to be a staunch supporter of Ukraine, according to US media and internet users who analyzed his social media accounts before they were deleted.
Routh’s social media profiles were filled with posts highlighting his “self-proclaimed involvement” in the Ukraine conflict and attempts to recruit soldiers to fight against Russia, according to CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller.
Routh repeatedly voiced staunch support for Kiev in dozens of often nonsensical posts in 2022, saying he was willing to fight and die for Ukraine and that “we need to burn the Kremlin to the ground,” according to CNN.
“I would like to buy a rocket from you,” he wrote in a message to Elon Musk, according to NYPost. “I wish to load it with a warhead for Putin’s Black Sea mansion bunker to end him.”
Routh spent several months in Kiev in 2022 and told the New York Times about his efforts to recruit former Afghan soldiers to fight in Ukraine. He also spoke with Newsweek about his attempts to enlist volunteers for the International Legion Defense of Ukraine.
According to the New York Post, Routh frequently criticized politicians, including Trump and current President Joe Biden, and “touted his do-gooder credentials while championing left-wing causes.”
Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene stated that if the suspect’s identity is confirmed, it is clear he is “obsessed with the Ukraine war, which is funded by the US.”
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden has questioned whether US intelligence agencies had any “contact” with the attempted shooter, pointing to his alleged connections to Ukraine and vocal support for Kiev.
”We know little so far, but with the alleged Trump shooter's personal and public participation in military activity in Ukraine, it is hard to imagine this White House's agencies can claim zero contact – ’clean hands.’ Something of an Oswald vibe here. Congress should get answers,” Snowden wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. labeled the suspected would-be shooter a “psychopath” who probably “spends a lot of time watching leftwing propaganda.”