Federal agents investigating an attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump on Sunday in West Palm Beach still face troubling questions over 24 hours after apprehending Ryan Wesley Routh, the chief suspect in the case, as they probe his motives, his methods and whether he acted alone in his alleged plot to kill the Republican Party leader.
Investigators are still trying to learn how long Routh — whose last known residence was in Hawaii — had been present in South Florida before his arrest on Sunday. It is not clear how or where he obtained the AK47-style weapon found at the scene. And it is not yet known how the suspect discovered, last minute, that the former president would be golfing that day at the Trump International Golf Club — an event that had been kept private.
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Charges brought against Routh in federal court Monday shed light on an FBI investigation in its infancy, only accusing him of two federal gun charges, including an attempt to obliterate the serial number on his rifle. That act has made it difficult for investigators to track down where Routh obtained the weapon — and so far, law enforcement say he is refusing to cooperate.
Routh is suspected of hiding in the bushes surrounding the golf club overnight on Sunday with a scope, a rifle and a GoPro camera, in an attempt to assassinate the former president and current Republican presidential nominee.
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The United States Secret Service scoped out each hole on the course before Trump was using it, and were able to identify the barrel of a weapon peeking out from the bushes. A Secret Service agent fired four shots toward the suspect, law enforcement officials said, causing him to flee out the back, where his car was parked. A civilian passing by saw a man fleeing and, suspicious of the activity, was able to capture his car and license plate number on camera.
On Monday morning, William Snyder, the sheriff of Martin County, where Routh was stopped in the vehicle fleeing the scene, said the suspect was driving at the speed of traffic and acted as if he “thought he had gotten away with it.”
“It was God’s blessing we caught him,” he said.
But Snyder said the details surrounding Routh’s case have raised fears among law enforcement that he may not have acted alone. An affidavit unsealed on Monday stated that Routh was driving a black Nissan with a tag pulled from a Ford truck that had previously been reported as stolen.
“I think what we’re finding out is, he’s not from this area, which raises the bigger question,” Snyder said. “How does a guy from not here get all the way to Trump International, realize that the former president of the United States is golfing, and is able to get a rifle in that vicinity?”
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Trump’s decision to golf on Sunday was not made public, and is said to have been made last minute.
“I think that’s the question the FBI and Secret Service are laser-focused on today,” Snyder added. “Is this guy part of a conspiracy? Is he a lone gunman? 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.”
Law enforcement do not believe that Routh was able to fire off any rounds of ammunition before fleeing the scene. FBI investigators could be seen on Monday combing through the bushes where the suspect had been hiding.
Routh is currently being held in federal custody. The second charge against him is over possessing a firearm as a convicted felon, over a 2002 conviction Routh faced over a felony charge of possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
