Photos emerged on Sunday of the moment law enforcement officials in Florida took a man into custody after he was allegedly preparing to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
Authorities arrested 58-year-old Ryan Routh — a Democrat donor with a criminal history — after Secret Service noticed his AK-47-style rifle as he hid in shrubbery only a few hundred yards away from Trump at Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach. When he was engaged by federal law enforcement officials, he ran and got into a car and drove off. Fortunately, a witness captured a photo of the car and the license plate, allowing police to quickly locate and arrest him.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office released photographs showing where they caught Routh traveling northbound on I-95 in a black Nissan SUV.
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“Northbound I-95 at 714 is shut down,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement. “Based on BOLO information released by Palm Beach County, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office has stopped a vehicle and taken a suspect into custody believed to be connected to a shooting incident at Trump International in Palm Beach County.”
🚨#BREAKING: New photo shows the suspect’s car being stopped by law enforcement, with a person in custody after a shooting incident at Trump’s Florida golf club. The suspect was arrested on I-95 in Martin County, Florida, according to the sheriff’s office pic.twitter.com/dGT8IkDIke
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) September 15, 2024
The FBI said it was investigating “what appears to be an attempted assassination of” the former president, at least the second time someone has tried to kill him. Trump was shot in the head in July during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, and Secret Service was criticized for failing to provide adequate protection.
Another photo surfaced appearing to show Routh in a police car after being taken into custody. The man in the photo appears to be the same individual identified earlier in the day as the suspect that law enforcement sought to locate.
BREAKING: The suspect arrested in the alleged assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump is Ryan Wesley Routh.
Here is a picture after arrest. pic.twitter.com/opSBrTfnTG
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) September 16, 2024
Pic of the man in custody after the attempt on Donald Trump in West Palm Beach. This man is 58 years old. I don’t have a name yet. pic.twitter.com/vOOVjV6H2g
— Karol Markowicz (@karol) September 15, 2024