An undated selfie shows Ryan W. Routh, a suspect identified by news organizations, as the FBI investigates what they said was an apparent assassination attempt in Florida on Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump,
Florida US, September 16—US media outlets CNN, Fox News and The New York Times have identified the gunman arrested by FBI at Florida Palm Beach Golf course where former President Donald Trump was heading to play Golf as Ryan Wesley Routh,58, of Hawaii, but could not be independently verified.
FBI declined to comment but said it is investigating an incident involving a gunman at former US President Donald Trump’s golf course in Florida as an apparent “attempted assassination”.
Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, says he is “safe and well” after gunshots were fired in his vicinity in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The incident comes just two months after Trump survived an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania.
The Secret Service said its agents were accompanying Trump on the golf course, when one who was securing holes ahead of Trump spotted a gun barrel in some bushes near the property line.
Multiple agents engaged the gunman and fired at least four rounds at him. The gunman then dropped his AK-47 style rifle, two backpacks, a Go Pro camera and other items and fled in a black Nissan car.
Palm Beach County sheriff Ric Bradshaw said a witness managed to take a photo of the suspected gunman’s car and license plate and gave it to authorities.
Shortly after, sheriff’s deputies in neighbouring Martin County stopped the suspect on Interstate 95 and took him into custody.
Reuters found profiles on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn for a Ryan Routh, and public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the shooting.
The three accounts bearing Routh’s name suggest he was an avid supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On April 21, Routh directed an X message to Elon Musk, in which he wrote: “I would like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putins Black sea mansion bunker to end him. Can you give me a price please.”
The New York Times reported it had interviewed Routh in 2023 for an article about Americans who were volunteering to help the Ukraine war effort. Routh told the Times he’d travelled to Ukraine and spent several months there in 2022 and was trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.
On X in 2020, Routh expressed support for Democratic U.S. presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked Biden as “sleepy Joe.”
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