An accused gunman who was arrested in an apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach on Sunday has been charged initially with possessing a gun with a scratched-out serial number and with possessing a gun illegally as a felon — though more serious charges are likely pending.
Ryan W Routh , 58, made his first appearance in court Monday morning at the Paul G. Rogers Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in West Palm Beach, during a hearing before Judge Ryon M. McCabe.
Slender and with a full head of dyed-blonde hair, Routh wore a navy blue inmate uniform and cuffs on his wrists and ankles as he waited for the court to take up his case.
Routh, a North Carolina man living in Hawaii, was assigned a federal public defender after he told the judge that, while he has a job earning $3,000 a month, he has no money in the bank and owns no real estate. Speaking calmly and politely, he said he supports one adult son. He chatted before and during his hearing with a court-appointed defense attorney, Kristy Militello.
“From what I’m hearing, you have little to no assets,” the judge said to Routh.
Both charges levied against Routh — who has a prior criminal history from an incident more than 20 years ago in North Carolina in which he barricaded himself inside a building while wielding a gun — are felonies, carrying a combined maximum fine of $500,000 and up to 20 years in prison.
He has not yet been charged in relation to the apparent assassination attempt on Trump, though he is likely to eventually face charges of making threats against a former president, or against a candidate for president who is protected by the Secret Service.
New details
An affidavit filed in support of the criminal charges and unsealed following Routh’s hearing suggests that investigators believe he had been waiting at the golf course overnight for nearly 12 hours when he was first spotted by a Secret Service agent surveilling the course ahead of Trump as the former president played a round of golf.
The document states that Routh’s cell phone signal confirmed that he arrived at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach just before 2 a.m. Sunday and remained there until he was spotted at 1:31 p.m. The document states that law enforcement found a plastic bag filled with food, a GoPro camera and a loaded SKS-style rifle in the treeline where the gunman had been spotted by Secret Service.
The special agent who signed the affidavit, Mark A. Thomas, noted that such weapons aren’t sold in Florida, meaning it was likely brought into the state from elsewhere, rather than purchased locally.
The document also states that when Routh was stopped by sheriff’s deputies on the highway at 2:14 p.m., he said he knew why he was being pulled over. The license tag on the Nissan SUV he was driving was lifted from a Ford truck that had been reported stolen, Thomas wrote.
Routh did not enter a plea on Monday. The judge set a bond hearing for Routh on Sept. 23. An arraignment is set for Sept. 30 should Routh be charged by a grand jury indictment, at which time the defendant would enter his plea.
In the meantime, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, which was represented in court on Monday by prosecutor Adam McMichael, wants to keep Routh in jail, citing the potential that he might flee and noting that he is a danger because he’s accused of carrying a weapon illegally as a felon.
Later Monday, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District Markenzy Lapointe and other local and federal authorities said at an afternoon news conference at the Palm Beach Sheriff’s office that the investigation is in its “early stages,” with a focus on “an apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump.”
The FBI has executed search warrants to gather evidence on Routh, including video recordings, cell phones, other electronic devices and vehicles, along with interviewing seven civilian witnesses who were at or near the West Palm Beach golf course and Routh’s family members in North Carolina and Hawaii. Agents are also analyzing Routh’s social media posts and his reported efforts to recruit Afghanis to fight in Ukraine against Russia.
Asked if Routh acted alone or with others, Miami FBI Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri said: “We’re still exploring that” but so far “we don’t have information that he acted with anyone else.”
Asked about the the Secret Service’s protection of former President Trump on Sunday, Acting Special Agent in Charge Ronald L. Rowe Jr. said the president’s golf game was not on his schedule. But he stressed that since the first assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania in July, the FBI has heightened its security for Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris to top levels.
“Those things were in place yesterday,” Rowe said.
In a new disclosure, Rowe said that when a Secret Service agent fired shots at a rifle barrel sticking through the shrubs at the golf course on Sunday, the suspect did not shoot back.
“The subject [Routh] did not fire or get off any shots at our agent,” Rowe said.
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