A man suspected of hiding for nearly 12 hours in an apparent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course was charged with two gun-related crimes on Monday, a day after authorities say he was spotted in the bushes with a rifle as the former US president played nearby.
The suspect never had the Republican presidential candidate for the Nov. 5 election in his line of sight and did not fire any shots.
The incident raised questions about how an armed man was able to get so close to Trump, just two months after another gunman grazed his ear with a bullet during a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Trump’s visit to his golf course in West Palm Beach was not on his public schedule, acting US Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe told reporters on Monday afternoon, and it was not clear whether the suspect knew Trump would be there.
The Secret Service opened fire after an agent sweeping the course saw a rifle barrel poking out of the bushes a few hundred yards away from the former president, who was on the fairway of the fifth hole.
While praising the Secret Service agents, he added: “We do need more people on my detail.”
The gunman fled in a sports utility vehicle, according to court papers on Monday. Officers found a loaded assault-style rifle with a scope, a digital camera and a plastic bag of food left behind.
A suspect, identified on Monday as Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested about 40 minutes later driving north on Interstate 95. The license plate on his vehicle had been reported stolen from another car.
Records show a phone associated with Routh was located at the golf course starting at 1:59 am (0559 GMT) on Sunday morning, 11-1/2 hours before the incident.
The suspect was on the “public side” of a fence along the golf course’s boundary, Rowe said.
Routh was the subject of a 2019 tip to the FBI alleging that he was a convicted felon who illegally possessed a firearm, Jeffrey Veltri, the agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, told reporters.
Routh made a brief appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach on Monday, where he was charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. More charges could follow.
