Who is alleged Trump gunman Ryan Wesley Routh?
Updated September 16, 2024 — 12.10pm
Washington: The suspected gunman in an alleged attempted assassination of Donald Trump at the former president’s golf course has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old father from Hawaii.
Law enforcement identified the suspect to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Suspected gunman Ryan Wesley Routh.Credit: Facebook
The suspect dropped the weapon and fled in an SUV and was later taken into custody in a neighbouring county, authorities said. A motive is unclear. Local authorities said the gunman had two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera.
Routh’s son, Oran Routh, has told US broadcaster CNN that he does not know what has happened to his father but “hopes things have just been blown out of proportion”.
“Ryan is my father and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father, an honest hard-working man,” Oran Routh told CNN.
“I don’t know what’s happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion because from the little I’ve heard it doesn’t sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent.
“He’s a good father and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light”.
Among other details to emerge, Routh evidently had been involved in efforts to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia.
US media outlet Semafor reported that last year Routh had acted as the leader of a group called the International Volunteer Centre, which sought to bring foreign troops to Ukraine to assist Kyiv.
Semafor cited its own March 7, 2023 interview with Routh in which the American – now a suspect in the Florida assassination attempt – expressed frustration with Ukraine over its willingness to accept foreign fighters.
“Ukraine is very often hard to work with,” Routh is quoted as saying. “Many foreign soldiers leave after a week in Ukraine or must move from unit to unit to find a place they are respected and appreciated,” he said.
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Routh had suggested Ukraine make use of Afghan commandos, but was “yelled at” by his Ukrainian contacts, Semafor reported.
In 2022, Routh was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to North Carolina Department of Adult Correction online records.
The records do not provide details about the case. But a News & Record story from 2002 says a man with the same name was arrested after a three-hour stand-off with police. The story says he was pulled over during a traffic stop, put his hand on a gun and barricaded himself inside a roofing business.
Routh was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a weapon of mass destruction, “referring to a fully automatic machine gun,” according to the News & Record.
with agencies
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