The man in custody in connection with what is being described as a second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump has a long criminal and civil court history, including a conviction for possessing a machine gun.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was taken into custody after shots were fired at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, three senior law enforcement sources said. In 2002, court records show, he was convicted of possessing a weapon of mass destruction — the machine gun.
In that case, a man named Ryan Routh, 36 at the time, allegedly led authorities on a vehicle chase before he holed up at a roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to an account at the time by the Greensboro News & Record.
A person named Ryan Routh resided for decades in North Carolina, property records show. Most recently, a Ryan Routh lived in the small coastal community of Kaaawa on Oahu’s eastern shore in Hawaii. Authorities there did not immediately respond to an inquiry about any possible contacts with Routh.
After the 2002 arrest, authorities allegedly found the suspect in possession of a fully automatic machine gun, according to the Greensboro News & Record report. The arrest coincides with North Carolina criminal court records that include Routh’s conviction for possession of a weapon of mass destruction.
Records also show convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, possession of stolen property and hit-and-run. In those cases, which included misdemeanor convictions for violations such as resisting an officer and driving on a suspended license, the defendant received a suspended sentence and parole or probation.
There’s no record of time spent in state prison related to those cases in the early 2000s.
Court records show more than 100 criminal counts have been filed against Ryan Routh in North Carolina, most in Guilford County, which underlies Greensboro. The exact outcome of each case was not immediately clear Sunday.
The court records for a person named Ryan Routh also show a 2003 divorce, as well as multiple civil judgments after contractors and individuals sued a roofing company he helped run.
On Sunday, Palm Beach County State’s Attorney Dave Aronberg said on MSNBC’s “Ayman,” with Ayman Mohyeldin and Ali Velshi, that the federal government is taking over prosecution in the West Palm Beach case, with the U.S. Justice Department expected to file any charges.
He argued that a defendant wouldn’t have to open fire for the case to include a charge of attempted assassination.
Aronberg said it was his understanding that Routh was “lying in wait” for Trump before U.S. Secret Service agents spotted him. Routh had aimed at the agent who fired at him, Aronberg said; the exact chronology of what took place is still unclear.
Routh was “pretty quiet” and “pretty compliant” after a Martin County sheriff’s traffic unit took him into custody on Interstate 95 one county to the north of Palm Beach, Aronberg said.
Tom Winter, Ken Dilanian, Chloe Atkins, Rebecca Cohen, Caroline Radnofsky, Donna Mendell and Kelly O’Donnell contributed.
