Phone records place the suspect in Sunday’s apparent assassination attempt on former President Trump near the scene almost 12 hours ahead of the incident at Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach in Florida.
Ryan Wesley Routh, the 58-year-old suspect, left a digital footprint through phone records that tracked him at the golf course from 1:59 a.m. Sunday until about 1:31 p.m., according to federal prosecutors’ complaint filed in court Monday.
Routh camped out with a plastic bag containing food, a digital camera and a loaded AK-47 style rifle with scope, according to the FBI affidavit attached to the complaint. It said the serial number on the rifle “was obliterated and unreadable to the naked eye.”
The agent who retrieved the weapon said it was likely brought from out of state at some point, as the style of rifle is not manufactured in Florida.
Authorities ultimately tracked Routh down on Interstate 95 at 2:14 p.m., more than 40 minutes after Secret Service fired shots at the suspect once they saw his rifle poking out of a fence near the golf course. The FBI affidavit said the Nissan he fled in had stolen license plates.
Routh was charged Monday morning with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Together the two charges could carry a 20-year maximum sentence and $500,000 fine.
The suspect had previously been convicted on multiple counts of possession of stolen goods in March of 2010 and possession of weapons of mass death and destruction in 2002.
Routh was a staunch supporter of Ukraine and reportedly attempted to join the international effort to defend the county, though Ukraine’s foreign legion has said he never fought with its unit of foreign troops.
Routh said he voted for former President Trump in 2016 but had become disillusioned with the ex-president, who is seeking to return to the White House in 2024.
“While you were my choice in 2106 [2016], I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving,” Routh wrote in a post on social platform X in July 2020. “I will be glad when you gone.”
Federal agents are continuing their investigation into the case along with state and local law officials.