The suspect in the latest apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump was in custody on Sunday night after being apprehended unarmed, having apparently abandoned his assault rifle at the golf course before fleeing.
The man in custody was Ryan Wesley Routh, three law enforcement officials told the Associated Press. The officials who identified the suspect spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the investigation.
The identity of the suspect had not been officially confirmed on Sunday evening but he has been named by several other mainstream media outlets, also citing anonymous sources. The Guardian also spoke to Routh’s son, Oran Routh, who said he had not spoken to his father since the incident.
Although the suspected gunman was much farther away from the former president, from his vantage point at the golf course, than the man who shot Trump in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July, law enforcement officials found a scope on the gun with the belongings abandoned at the fence when the man fled that would have brought Trump well within range.
Routh was described in various reports as a construction worker previously working in North Carolina. He was strong opponent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine who had tried to recruit overseas volunteers to fight for Ukraine. Oran Routh said that his father had volunteered in Ukraine.
The Martin county sheriff, William Snyder, said that the suspect did not display much emotion when police apprehended him as he was driving away from the scene and arrested him.
The suspect was pursued after he ran to a car and was seen by an onlooker who was able to record the vehicle’s registration and share it with law enforcement, police said at a press conference earlier on Sunday.
