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 sweeped each hole on the course in advance of Trump’s use, 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 escape 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.”
Investigators answer questions
There is no evidence that Routh conspired with others. But that theory has not yet been disproven by law enforcement, Jeffrey Veltri, the special agent in charge of the FBI Miami Field office, told reporters on Monday afternoon.
“At this point, we’re still exploring that, investigating that,” Veltri said. “Our investigation will determine that. We do not have information that he’s been acting with anyone else at present.”
The agent said that federal investigators still did not know how long Routh had been in Florida, or when and where he had obtained his weapon. But he said the FBI had received a 2019 tip that Routh might have been illegally in possession of a firearm that the agency had vetted and passed on to Honolulu police.
“We’re in the process of collecting a lot of evidence, and that will be part of that investigation,” the agent said.
Ronald L. Rowe Jr., acting director of the Secret Service, told reporters he could not say whether Routh simply suspected the former president might go golfing on a Sunday, or whether he had any additional information that led him to camp out that previous night in wait.
“It was an off the record movement,” said Rowe Jr. “It was not on the former president’s schedule.”
Trump “wasn’t supposed to have gone there in the first place,” he added.
Law enforcement said that Routh was not 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.
“The subject did not fire or get off any shots at our agent,” Rowe said.
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.
The FBI special agent told reporters that they had a large number of evidentiary items to process, and were working to understand “the full totality of the subject’s social media presence.” They have also conducted interviews of all officers on the scene and seven witnesses.
“I want to emphasize we’re just a little over 24 hours into this investigation,” the agent added.
Miami Herald staff writer Jay H. Weaver contributed to this report.
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