Washington — Federal prosecutors said Monday they would seek to indict the suspect discovered by the secret service with a high-caliber rifle in the bushes near former President Donald Trump in an attempted assassination of a political figure.
Ryan Wesley Routh58, already faces two federal firearms charges He was arrested following the September 15 incident outside Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. He appeared in federal court on Monday, where a federal judge ordered him held until his trial.
Routh was denied bail and was considered a flight risk and a potential danger to the community. He is being represented by a federal public defender, and his attorney’s office said Monday morning it would not comment.
Prosecutors said during the hearing that they intend to ask a grand jury to return a new indictment with an additional count, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.
Before the hearing, government lawyers provided more details Investigators said in a detention note that Routh was to remain behind bars until his trial. They revealed that months before the assassination attempt, the suspect left a box containing ammunition, a metal pipe, construction materials, tools, four phones and letters with a man.
One of the letters was addressed to “Dear World” and read: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I failed. I did my best and showed all the courage I could muster,” according to the memo. The handwritten letter also included a bounty.
Prosecutors said a man, later identified as Routh, and the barrel of a gun were spotted by a Secret Service agent in the bushes along the fence of Trump’s golf course as he was playing. No shots were fired at Trump, but the agent shot the suspect, who fled.
Federal law enforcement said an AK-47-style rifle with a scope and an extended magazine was found at the scene. The weapon was loaded with 11 rounds of ammunition and the rifle’s serial number had been defaced, according to the Justice Department filing. Secret Service agents also found a digital camera, a backpack and a reusable shopping bag hanging from the fence, prosecutors said.
According to the Justice Department, the backpack and shopping bag contained plates “capable of stopping small arms fire.”
A witness near the golf course spotted the suspect running toward a vehicle and shared a description of the car and license plate with law enforcement. Routh was arrested about 50 miles (80 kilometers) away and identified as the man seen fleeing Trump International, federal investigators said.
The FBI later found inside the vehicle a black Nissan Xterra, two license plates, six cellphones, 12 pairs of gloves, a Hawaiian driver’s license in Routh’s name and documents, according to the detention memo. The SUV’s license plate was not registered to the car, law enforcement said.
One of the phones contained a Google search for how to travel from Palm Beach County, Florida, to Mexico.
This is the second incident in recent weeks in which Trump has been targeted. A gunman opened fire at the former president’s campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, killing one attendee and wounding two others. Trump was shot in the ear in the attack.
The FBI and a bipartisan congressional task force are investigating the assassination attempt in Butler, and the scope of lawmakers’ investigation has been expanded to include the latest incident in South Florida.
