What we know about the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh

The fifty-year-old was identified as the suspect arrested on Sunday in Florida after shots were fired near the golf course of the Republican presidential candidate.

It was around 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 15, when shots rang out near the golf course where Donald Trump was playing, not far from his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida. Agents from the Secret Service, responsible for the former president of the United States’ security, “opened fire on an armed man” from an AK-47 rifle, hidden in the bushes near the course. The man managed to escape. Shortly after, the FBI announced it was opening an investigation. “on what appears to be an assassination attempt.” Thanks to the testimony of a local resident, the police were able to arrest a suspect, 70 kilometers north of the golf course. American media CNN, CBS and the New York Times identified him: Ryan Wesley Routh. Here’s what we know about him.

A 58-year-old American with a passion for international politics

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, originally from North Carolina, was living in Hawaii. According to CNN and CBS, he worked in housing construction. In At the same time, he published news articles, some of which were critical of Donald Trump, and gave his opinion on international politics.

Thus, on an account of the social network X, now suspended but consulted by The Worldhe called out Kim Jong-un in May 2020, describing the North Korean dictator as “very smart and educated” and offering to help him end sanctions against his country. The same year, he suggested that opponents of the Belarusian regime buy weapons on Amazon, according to the French daily.

He went to Ukraine after the Russian invasion

A fervent defender of Ukraine, Ryan Wesley Routh dreamed of a “massive civil army“at a global level and multiplied the declarations on the social network X, announcing that he was ready to”fight and die“to defend the country.

AFP interviewed him in kyiv at the end of April 2022, while he was taking part in a demonstration in support of Ukrainians trapped in Mariupol.Putin is a terrorist and he needs to be stopped. So we need everyone, all over the world, to stop what they are doing and come here now.“, he denounced at the time to the press agency.

In March 2023, his name appeared in an article in the New York Times where he explains having “spent several months” on Ukrainian territory in 2022, despite his lack of military experience. Ryan Wesley Routh recounts having gone to the country in order to help transfer Afghan soldiers fleeing the Taliban regime to the Ukrainian front using false passports.

Monday, September 16, after the suspect was arrested, Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the “political violence“. Un A senior Ukrainian official told AFP that Ryan Wesley Routh had no ties to the Ukrainian government.The Ukrainian Foreign Legion, made up of foreign volunteers fighting for the country, also assured that the American had never served in its ranks.

Several mentions on his criminal record

Ryan Wesley Routh has several criminal records, including for back taxes, according to CNN. In 2002, he was arrested for possession of a “weapon of mass destruction” in Greensboro, North Carolina, his hometown. In possession of an automatic rifle, he refused to comply with a driving order and barricaded himself in a shop, according to the local newspaper The Greensboro News & Record.

Currently, the motives for the assassination attempt against Donald Trump remain unknown. This event occurred 64 days after the July 13 assassination attempt at a campaign rally of the Republican candidate in Pennsylvania, where a spectator was killed and two others were injured.