The authorities have released the first photos from the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his golf course earlier Sunday. The images show alleged gunman, Ryan Wesley Routh, with an AK-47 rifle propped up against a fence alongside a black backpack and a GoPro attached to the wires.
Law enforcement sources identified the suspect as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh of Hawaii. Another image shows the suspect’s arrest on I-95 by local police, with his black vehicle blocked in by two police cars, including a police truck.
Following the incident, Trump released an “alert” statement assuring that he is “safe and well” hours after being rushed to safety when a man with a rifle was spotted nearby at his Florida golf course. The suspect was spotted by Secret Service agents one hole ahead of Trump, who was playing on the green. The agents opened fire on the gunman, who was not hit.
There were gunshots in my vicinity, but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” Trump wrote in a statement. Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER.
The former president was nearly assassinated two months ago after gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing Trump’s ear and killing a retired fire chief. The shooting followed a slew of errors made by his Secret Service detail, including installing basic safeguards and denying requests for additional security.
At the Republican National Convention just four days after the assassination attempt, Trump called for unity, stating, “The discord and division in our society must be healed. As Americans, we are bound together by a single fate and a shared destiny. We rise together. Or we fall apart.
Routh is a native of North Carolina who currently lives and works in Honolulu, Hawaii as a shed builder. He avidly commented on politicians’ and pop culture icons’ X posts, calling on anyone remotely relevant to help with whatever cause he believed in, ranging from stopping the war in Ukraine to saving a staircase in O’ahu, Hawaii.
I feel lucky to have been born in America, with freedom and opportunity and hope that I do not waste such a valuable thing; to do more and take less,” his X bio reads.
Routh also has his own website for his supposed mayoral candidacy in Honolulu. His forum includes more in-depth versions of posts on his X account, including his advocacy for the separation of church and state and his opinion on global affairs.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
