Suspect In Attempted Trump Assassination Waited For Nearly 12 Hours: Report

Washington: As US authorities investigate the motive behind second assassination attempt of Donald Trump , a record has showed that the suspect who was arrested in the attempted crime spent nearly 12 hours near golf course before being confronted, AP has reported. The suspect has been identified as Ryan Routh.

Who is Ryan Wesley Routh?

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, faces charges of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The Justice Department did not allege that he fired any shots. Additional and more serious charges are possible as the investigation continues and prosecutors seek an indictment from a grand jury.

How Ryan Wesley was Arrested? 

Routh was arrested Sunday afternoon after authorities spotted a firearm poking out of shrubbery on the West Palm Beach golf course where Trump was playing. He was spotted by a Secret Service agent assigned to Trump's security detail who opened fire, prompting Routh to speed away before being captured by law enforcement in a neighboring county, the authorities said.

Authorities did not immediately reveal any new details about Routh or allege a particular motive. But he left an online footprint that reveals shifting political views and intense outrage about global events.

“You are free to assassinate Trump,” Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published 2023 book titled “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” which described the former president as a “fool” and “buffoon” for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riots and the “tremendous blunder” of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.

Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the “child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless.”

He also tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself from Russia, and he had a website seeking to raise money and recruit volunteers to fight for Kyiv.

With inputs from AP