FBI’s terrifying claim about alleged shooter

Police in the US have released footage of the moment Ryan Routh, who is accused of trying to assassinate Donald Trump, was taken into custody.

Police in the United States have released footage of the moment Ryan Wesley Routh, who is accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump, was taken into custody.

Routh, a 58-year-old construction worker, reportedly lay in the bushes at Mr Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, for almost 12 hours, waiting for the former president.

As Mr Trump played a round of golf on Sunday, local time, a weapon was seen poking through shrubbery near the sixth hole. Secret Service agents chased down the suspect, who fled, and arrested him.

“In the area of the tree line from where Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food,” US Attorney for the Southern District of Florida Markenzy Lapointe said at a press conference today.

SKS-type rifles were a Soviet-era predecessor to the AK-47, and they use the same kind of high caliber ammunition.

Body cam footage posted on social media by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shows Routh walking backwards with his hands above his head before being restrained and arrested.

Body camera footage of the alleged would-be Trump shooter's arrest.

Routh, centre, walks backwards towards officers.

The suspect is restrained.

He is taken to a vehicle.

On Monday, Routh was charged in a Federal Court with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obstructed serial number. The first offence could lead to 15 years in prison, and the second up to five years.

Routh was allegedly able to get around 270-500 metres away from Mr Trump with the gun.

In a worrying development, the FBI said Routh appeared to have waited in the dark for Mr Trump through the night.

“Routh’s mobile phone was located in the vicinity of the area along the tree line... from approximately 1:59am until approximately 1:31pm on September 15,” an FBI special agent said in a criminal complaint.

Now, questions have been raised about how the would-be shooter of Mr Trump knew he would be at the course, given his golf schedule is not made public.

At today’s press conference, law enforcement said Mr Trump had not been scheduled to be at the golf course at the time Routh was arrested.

“It’s an active investigation. I don’t have any information on that subject,” said Ronald Rowe, acting director of the Secret Service.

Mr Rowe said the would-be shooter never had sight of Mr Trump.

Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old construction worker, is believed to have spent time in Ukraine at the start of the war. Picture: AFP TV

Press Information Officer Teri Barbera shows pictures of evidence found at the fence of the golf course where Trump was playing. Picture: Chandan Kanna/AFP

It’s the second attempt on Mr Trump’s life this year. Picture: Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AFP

‘Darker forces’

On Sunday, reporter Marc Caputo of US website Politico said Mr Trump had already raised questions about his first assassination attempt two months ago when he was shot in the ear at a rally in Pennsylvania.

Caputo said Mr Routh’s arrest is likely to cause more speculation about “darker forces” trying to eliminate Mr Trump from the presidential race.

“Leading up to this, the former president had been subject to some critical coverage in the news media for stoking some conspiracy theories about the first attempt and now that the second one came along, it’s going to be hard to convince him there’s not some deeper darker forces at work,” Caputo said.

Thomas Matthew Crooks was shot dead after firing at Mr Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.

An audience member was left dead and two others injured.

The Secret Service faced intense criticism after the incident.

It was revealed that snipers first spotted Mr Crooks 20 minutes before he opened fire, raising questions about why he wasn’t stopped.

One person wrote on social media: “It’s time to start working on the assumption that there must be some sort of collaborative effort to take Trump down”.

Caputo questioned how Mr Routh was able to plot a suspected assassination attempt from out of state.

“The question no one’s able to answer yet and hopefully will be answered: the alleged assassin appeared to have been from out of state,” he said.

“How did he drive down there? How did he case the joint? How did he know when the former president would be there and come within his potential line of sight.”

‘Full of s**t’

New details of the wild life led by the man suspected of carrying out the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump have emerged.

Mr Routh had heeded Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for foreign volunteers to join the newly-formed International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine to aid in the fight against Russia.

However, a former International Legion official has branded Mr Routh as “full of s**t and hot air” in candid comments published by UK newspapert The Telegraph.

The former Legion official told the publication that he had become notorious for making exaggerated claims, particularly about securing “hundreds of recruits from Afghanistan and Syria,” none of whom ever showed up.

“He’s been trying to get involved in recruitment and was really only interfering,” the official said.

“He was called out a number of times by Legion people and told to stop his shenanigans, but that didn’t seem to stop him. He was mostly quite eccentric. I could smell a mile away that he was full of s**t.”

The International Legion distanced itself from Mr Routh in the public statement, saying that he had “never been part of, associated with, or linked” to the organisation “in any capacity”.

As more details about Mr Routh surfaced, his son, Oran Routh, offered his perspective on his father’s alleged involvement in what has become the second attempt on Mr Trump’s life in as many months.

Ryan Routh is accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf club.

He explained that his father, who has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to assassinate Trump, was not a violent person.

“He hated Donald Trump, as every reasonable person does. I don’t like Trump either,” he said.

Oran, 35, said he was still coming to terms with the accusations against his father.

“He’s my dad, and all he’s had is a couple of traffic tickets, as far as I know. That’s crazy. I know my dad and love my dad, but that’s nothing like him,” he said, adding that he’d “never known him to own a gun or known him to do anything bats**t like this.”

“If my father wants to be a martyr to how broken and disassociated the process has become from the real problems and practical solutions, then that’s his choice. I’m not saying that’s what he’s done or what he’s about, that’s just my own rant being fed up with it all for my entire adult life.”

Mr Routh had allegedly set up a GoPro camera to film himself.

Mr Routh was reportedly “calm” during his arrest, local sheriff William Snyde revealed.

“There was a lone driver in the vehicle. That driver is now in custody,” he said.

“He never asked, ‘What is this about?’ Obviously, law enforcement with long rifles, blue lights, a lot going on. He never questioned it.”

“I want to thank the US Secret Service, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw and his officers of brave and dedicated patriots, and, all of law enforcement, for the incredible job done,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

“The job done was absolutely outstanding. I am very proud to be an American.”

Originally published as FBI’s terrifying claim about alleged shooter