Ryan Wesley Routh What is known about the alleged Trump assassin

The alleged perpetrator of the thwarted assassination attempt on Donald Trump has been identified. This is what is known about the suspect so far.

On Sunday, a man was arrested in connection with the alleged assassination attempt on Trump. The law enforcement agency identified the suspect as Ryan Wesley Routh.

He is 58 years old and comes from the city of Greensboro in the state of North Carolina. He is believed to have lived in Hawaii in the interim. Sheriff William D. Snyder of Martin Country, Florida, said Routh "didn't show a lot of emotion" during the arrest and was not armed when he was taken from his vehicle.

After the attempted assassination attempt on Trump, Routh fled, dropping his gun, two bags, a Go-Pro camera and other items.

Routh allegedly possessed a "weapon of mass destruction"

Back in 2002, Routh was charged with possession of a "weapon of mass destruction". According to "Wired" and the "New York Times", the weapon was a fully automatic machine gun. The police discovered the weapon in Routh's car during a traffic stop. He then barricaded himself in his house for hours before he was arrested. It is currently not publicly known whether he was sentenced for this, according to Der Spiegel.

Policewoman Tracy Fulk, who was involved in the operation, said according to "Wired" that Routh was known in the area. The police had often been alerted in the past because of Routh's handling of weapons or explosives. "I thought he was either dead or in prison by now," said Fulk.

Is the weapon not a Kalashnikov (AK-47) after all?

The assault rifle found was initially identified by the police as a Kalashnikov-type assault rifle (AK-47). But now a weapons expert told the "Washington Post" that the weapon in the photos shown looks more like a Simonov (SKS-45). "The weapon was misidentified as an AK-type rifle, probably because of the distinctive curved magazine and a visually similar gas system," N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the consulting firm Armament Research Services, told the paper.

Suspect last spoke out against Trump

It is currently not clear whether Routh supports a single political party. He recently spoke out against Donald Trump on X: "I'll be glad when you're gone," Ryan Routh wrote to Trump. The reason: Trump has been a disappointment because he has not made better policies and things are getting worse. Trump, according to Routh, was "retarded". In a post on X from 2020, however, he writes that Trump was his choice in 2016.

In early 2024, Routh expressed his preference for Republican Nikkie Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy on social media. He apparently saw them as a good alternative to Trump during the primaries. At other times, however, Routh also said that he appreciated the independent, left-wing Senator Bernie Sanders more than he used to.

Most recently, however, he apparently had high hopes for the Democrat and current US President Joe Biden. He wrote on his X account in April 2024: "@POTUS, your campaign should be called something like KADAF (Keep America democratic and free)." About Trump, Routh wrote: "Trump should be MASA (Make Americans slaves again)." The ballot would negotiate nothing less than democracy itself. "We cannot afford to fail," said Routh. The world is counting on the USA. The Americans would have to show the way.

Routh wanted to fight voluntarily in Ukraine

In the past, Routh has repeatedly commented on the war in Ukraine in various media. He even wanted to volunteer to fight in Ukraine and tried to recruit soldiers for the war against Putin.

According to theNew York Times, his posts revealed a penchant for violent rhetoric in the weeks following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. "I'm ready to fly to Krakow and go to the border of Ukraine to volunteer, fight and die," Routh wrote, according to the newspaper.

"He is a good father and a great person"

The suspect's son also commented: "I don't know what happened in Florida, and I hope things were just blown out of proportion," the CNN channel quoted him as saying. "He's a good father and a great person." The Fox News channel reported that the suspect had multiple run-ins with the law.