Trump assassination attempt latest: Suspect accused of aiming AK-47 at Florida golf course named as Ryan Routh

A man with an AK-47-style weapon pushed the muzzle through the trees at the perimeter at Trump National Golf Club in West Palm Beach while the former president was playing a round of golf on Sunday (15 September), prompting the Secret Service to open fire.

The former president is safe and unharmed, and the FBI says it is investigating “what appears to be an attempted assassination” of the Republican presidential candidate.

When quizzed on how close Trump was to the suspected shooter, a FBI spokesman replied: “300 to 500 yards.”

Suspect Ryan Routh spoke to Semafor on March 7 last year, complaining that the Ukrainian government, which he had traveled around the world to find backing for, was restricting the access of some foreign soldiers without the proper credentials.

“Ukraine is very often hard to work with. 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 told the outlet at the time.

“They’re afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy,” he added.

“I am in Washington DC now to try and get some leadership here to help push the Ukrainians to take these soldiers,” he told Semafor. “It all hinges on the US partners here encouraging Ukraine to use these men or us merely convincing them to use them.”

The suspect in Sunday’s shooting, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, spoke to The New York Times last year for an article chronicling Americans volunteering to help Ukraine win its war against Russia.

Routh, who was detained on Sunday, said he went to Ukraine after the Russian invasion and that he aimed to get Afghan soldiers to fight in the war.

When Routh was in Washington last year, he told The Times over the phone about a diplomat who thought his efforts to help Ukraine would be successful. But when a US fighter appeared to talk down to him in a message shared with the paper, Routh said the fighter “needs to be shot.”

Routh told The Times that he was in Washington to meet with the U.S. Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe to argue for more backing for Ukraine.

The suspect added at the time that he was looking for recruits for Ukraine among Afghan soldiers who had fled from the Taliban. He added that he was planning on moving some of them from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine. He claimed that dozens had said that they were interested.

“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan since it’s such a corrupt country,” he told the paper.

Ryan Wesley Routh, the detained suspect in Sunday’s shooting, has said that he would be willing to fight and die in the war in Ukraine.

“I AM WILLING TO FLY TO KRAKOW AND GO TO THE BORDER OF UKRAINE TO VOLUNTEER AND FIGHT AND DIE,” he wrote on X following the Russian invasion in early 2022, according to The New York Times.

On Signal, Routh wrote in his bio that “Civilians must change this war and prevent future wars.”

“Each one of us must do our part daily in the smallest steps help support human rights, freedom and democracy; we each must help the chinese,” his WhatsApp profile stated.

In a statement on Sunday night, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said: “I commend the Secret Service for its quick action to preempt this apparent assassination attempt and protect the former President. We condemn violence against public officials and candidates.”

“DHS and the Secret Service are closely working with federal, state and local law enforcement partners to learn all of the facts surrounding this incident,” he added. “The safety and security of Presidential candidates and other protectees is the highest priority for the Secret Service.”

Governor Ron DeSantis said on Sunday night that “The State of Florida will be conducting its own investigation regarding the attempted assassination at Trump International Golf Club.”

He added: “The people deserve the truth about the would-be assassin and how he was able to get within 500 yards of the former president and current GOP nominee.”

A firearms expert has told The Washington Post that the weapon found near Trump’s golf course has been “misidentified.”

The director of Armament Research Services, N.R. Jenzen-Jones, told the paper that “The weapon in question has been misidentified as an AK-type rifle, probably due to the distinctively curved magazine and a visually similar gas system.”

Law enforcement said they found an “AK-47-style rifle” at a fence near the course. But the photos viewed during the press conference on Sunday seem to show an SKS-type rifle in a polymer stock that has been fitted with an AK magazine for 7.62mm cartridges, the firearms expert said, according to The Post.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told The New York Times that he had spoken to Trump on Sunday.

“He said, ‘They took me off the course because there were shots fired,’” Graham told the paper, quoting the former president.

Graham said Trump noted that he had “500 cops” around him and that he was okay.

“‘These people are awesome,’” Trump said of the Secret Service, according to Graham.

In an email to campaign staff obtained by CNN, Trump campaign managers Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles said, “This is not a matter that we take lightly. Your safety is always our top priority.”

“We ask that you remain vigilant in your daily comings and goings. Be observant and maintain a constant level of situational awareness,” they added. “We urge you to always follow directions from law enforcement, including USSS, local police, and office armed security guards.”

Trump’s West Palm Beach campaign office went into lockdown following the shooting.

“President Trump and everyone accompanying him are safe thanks to the great work of the United States Secret Service,” the campaign managers said.