Updated September 17, 2024 at 10:28 AM ET
The man arrested in connection with what the FBI is calling an apparent attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump has a lengthy criminal record and recent fixation on global politics, particularly Russia's war in Ukraine.
The suspect, whom local officials identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, was taken into custody on Sunday afternoon on Interstate 95 near West Palm Beach, Fla., after what authorities say was possibly an attempt on Trump's life at his golf club — which would be the second attack in the last nine weeks.
The Secret Service said an agent who was stationed one hole ahead of Trump on the Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach spotted a rifle sticking out of a fence. The suspect holding the rifle was hiding in the shrubbery some 300 to 500 yards away from the Republican presidential nominee.
The agent opened fire on Routh, but Routh took off in a black Nissan, which authorities located on the highway a short while later, thanks to an eyewitness tip. He left behind the loaded rifle with a scope as well as a digital camera, a backpack and a plastic bag of food, according to the unsealed criminal complaint.
Routh did not fire his gun and did not have Trump in his "line of sight," Secret Service acting director Ronald Rowe said on Monday. The complaint cites cell phone data that suggests Routh had been "in the vicinity" of the golf course for roughly 12 hours, from 1:59 a.m. ET to about 1:31 p.m. ET, when the agent noticed the rifle through the fence.
Authorities say it's not clear how long Routh — a longtime North Carolina resident who most recently lived in Hawaii — had been in Florida. They believe he acted alone.
Routh has been charged with possession of a firearm as a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
In his first appearance in a West Palm Beach federal courtroom Monday morning, Routh — wearing a navy blue prison jumpsuit and shackles — appeared subdued and respectful and in good spirits. He could be seen laughing at times with his federal public defender.
The judge told Routh he qualified for a federal public defender because "you have little or no assets." Routh said he has zero funds and no savings, and he reported making an income of $3,000 a week but didn't specify the source. He said he owns two trucks in Hawaii and helps support his 25-year-old son.
Routh will remain in custody until his arraignment on Sept. 30.
Public records, a self-published book and previous interviews have painted a picture of the 58-year-old as a supporter turned critic of Trump who was passionate about defending Ukraine in its war with Russia and even traveled there in the hopes of taking up the fight.
Here's what we know about him so far.
He has a criminal record dating back decades
Routh spent most of his adulthood in North Carolina, before moving to Hawaii in recent years.
His LinkedIn page says he pursued a mechanical engineering degree at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University from 1995 to 1998. But the university told NPR via email that Routh only "attended two semesters nearly 30 years ago."
"He did not earn a degree from the university, and was last enrolled in December 1995," wrote director of media relations Jackie Torok.
Routh was hailed as "super citizen if not a super hero" by the Greensboro News & Record in 1991 after he fought a suspected rapist and assisted in his arrest — which earned him an Academy Award-shaped "Law Enforcement Oscar" from the Greensboro chapter of the International Union of Police Association.
But records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction show that Routh has a long history of getting in trouble with the law himself, including a 2002 conviction on a felony charge of possessing a weapon of mass destruction.
A December 2002 story in the Greensboro News & Record recounts an incident in which Routh was pulled over during a traffic stop on a Sunday night. He "put his hand on a firearm" and drove to his roofing business, where he barricaded himself inside for three hours. The weapon-of-mass-destruction charge pertained to a "fully automatic machine gun," the newspaper reported.
Jeffrey Veltry, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s office in Miami, told reporters on Monday that Routh had been the subject of a 2019 tip to the FBI alleging he was a felon in possession of a firearm. He says the agency investigated that tip, but the person who allegedly made the complaint could not verify providing the initial information.
Routh was charged with several other misdemeanors and felonies between 2001 and 2010, including a hit-and-run offense, carrying a concealed weapon and possessing stolen goods.
Separately, North Carolina judicial records list Routh as the defendant in over half a dozen court cases between 1991 and 2016, including tax delinquencies and bad checks.
Routh wrote on his LinkedIn page that he had "passed along any meager remnants of myself in North Carolina and relocated to Oahu." He has lived and worked in Hawaii since 2018, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, which cited public records.
The paper cited "law enforcement sources" as saying that Honolulu police have records of four interactions with Routh: two in 2019 — including an incident where he and two others allegedly squatted on property — and another two in 2021, when Routh reported being assaulted by a resident whose home he was working on as a handyman.
Routh describes himself as the owner of Camp Box Honolulu, a company that builds portable storage units and tiny homes.
"We cannot sit idle, as some of our friends and neighbors around us struggle, when we ourselves are smart enough to create our own solutions to our own problems," the company's website reads. "Using common sense and American ingenuity and the resources that we have, together we can create our own happy places."
He once supported Trump but recently donated to Democrats
North Carolina voting records list Routh as unaffiliated with any party, though they also show that he voted in person in the Democratic primary election in March 2024.
He is also listed as having voted in the general elections in 2008 and 2012, as well as municipal elections in 2009.
Routh has a history of donating to political causes, as Federal Election Commission records show. He donated to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue nearly 20 times — in amounts ranging from $1 to $25 — between September 2019 and March 2020.
In a 2023 self-published book, Routh referenced his former support for Trump, writing that he must take part of the blame for electing Trump as president, "but I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake."
In the book, he referred to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection as a "catastrophe … perpetrated by Donald Trump and his undemocratic posse."
Routh's 291-page book, Ukraine's Unwinnable War: The Fatal Flaw of Democracy, World Abandonment, and the Global Citizen—Taiwan, Afghanistan, North Korea, WWIII and the End of Humanity, covers a topic that seems to have consumed Routh in recent years.
Routh is an avid supporter of Ukraine's defense
Routh has expressed strong support for Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia's full-fledged invasion in early 2022, and he was on a mission to get foreigners — himself included — to the front lines.
His goal was to "fight for freedom and human rights," he wrote in his book.
Routh traveled to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv that year but was told — given his age and lack of military experience — that he was "not an ideal candidate," as he told Newsweek Romania in 2022.
"So plan B was to come here to Kyiv and promote getting more people here," he said.
Since then, he has used social media to encourage and attempt to recruit foreigners to fight in Ukraine, and he has spoken about those efforts in media interviews.
Routh told The New York Times in March 2023 that he was seeking recruits among Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban, aiming to purchase passports through Pakistan ("since it's such a corrupt country") and move them — in some cases illegally — into Ukraine from Pakistan and Iran. The Times described Routh as a "former construction worker from Greensboro, N.C. … who spent several months in Ukraine last year."
That same month, he complained to Semafor about the Ukrainian government's lack of support, saying it was being overly rigid about admitting foreign soldiers, especially from Afghanistan, over concerns that they might be Russian spies.
"I have had partners meeting with [Ukraine's Ministry of Defense] every week and still have not been able to get them to agree to issue one single visa," said Routh, who was identified by Semafor as the head of the International Volunteer Center in Ukraine — "a private organization which helps foreigners seeking to assist the war effort connect with military units and aid groups."
A representative from Ukraine's foreign legion told CNN that Routh had reached out to it several times online but "was never part of the legion and didn't cooperate with us in any way."
"The best way to describe his messages is — delusional ideas," said Oleksandr Shaguri, an officer of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Land Forces Command. "He was offering us large numbers of recruits from different countries, but it was obvious to us his offers were not realistic. We didn't even answer — there was nothing to answer to."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the apparent assassination attempt against Trump in an X post on Monday, saying, "political violence has no place anywhere in the world."
When asked about the incident on Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said it shows that "playing with fire" has consequences — an apparent reference to U.S. support for Ukraine.
Routh's family has defended him
One of Routh's sons, Adam, told Reuters immediately after the incident that it was not something he believed his father would do.
Another, Oran, told CNN that it's not like his father "to do anything crazy, much less violent."
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