OAN Staff Blake Wolf
11:18 AM – Thursday, September 19, 2024
More details are emerging regarding the suspect in the second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump, along with a new mugshot where the suspect can be seen slightly smirking.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is the suspected gunman who authorities arrested on the highway after he purportedly camped outside Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club for nearly 12 hours.
A U.S. Secret Service agent noticed the suspicious man hiding in a shrub outside of a fence along the course.
“In addition to a digital camera and two bags, investigators found a loaded SKS-style 7.62×39 caliber rifle with a scope that had an ‘obliterated’ serial number and a black plastic bag containing food likely to sustain Routh while he waited in the wooded area,” NBC News reported.
After noticing him, the Secret Service agent fired shots at the suspect, which prompted Routh to run away and jump in his vehicle before driving towards the highway. Additionally, surfacing reports are now claiming that an unidentified woman had noticed his suspicious behavior, which led her to write down his license plate number before calling the police. This is assumably how the authorities were able to catch him so quickly.
Routh, armed with a rifle that he was poking through the fence, was fortunately not able to fire off any shots at Trump as he still not in his line of sight yet, only the agents guarding the former president were.
According to arrest records, Routh, a current resident of Hawaii, is listed as married. The arrest records also note that Routh was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol during the incident. He has now been hit with federal charges of possessing a gun with a scratched-out serial number and possessing a gun as a felon, with more serious charges likely to follow.
State Attorney Dave Aronberg stated that Routh could potentially face additional charges of aggravated assault for pointing a rifle at Secret Service agents as well as making threats against a former president.
“I think this is an offense that should merit life in prison, and if we are not going to go to the fullest extent of the law, you are lowering the threshold into what someone in the future may try to do something like this,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) stated on Tuesday.
Routh is due back in court later on this month. Even more details will be released next week.
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