The U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday charged Ryan Routh, a suspect in the Sept. 15 attempt to kill former President Donald Trump (2017-2021) on a Florida golf course and who was already facing federal gun charges in the same case, with attempted murder.
A new charge of “attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate” was added to the accusation on Tuesday, according to several media outlets.
On Monday, prosecutors released a handwritten letter from Routh, 58, in which he detailed his plan to kill Trump and expressed regret over his failure to do so. In the handwritten letter, the suspect confessed: “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump, but I am truly sorry I let you down.”
Routh had previously been charged with two firearms-related offenses, including removing the serial number from a firearm and possessing a firearm while a convicted felon.
At a hearing Monday in a West Palm Beach court, Judge Ryon McCabe denied the defendant bail.
The case will now be overseen by Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed under the Trump administration and oversaw and then dismissed the case over mishandling of classified documents against the former president.
On the day of the incident, the man was spotted by a Secret Service agent, who found him armed with a semi-automatic rifle hidden behind bushes lined up near the sixth hole of a West Palm Beach golf course, and which belongs to Trump, at a time when he was with a group of friends one hole behind.
The officer noticed the gun and shot the suspect, who fled without firing his weapon at any time, prosecutors said. Routh was stopped by local police officers as he was driving northbound on an interstate highway.
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents later found a loaded rifle in the area with the serial number scratched and unreadable, as well as a rifle scope, a digital camera, a backpack and a bag.
Routh, who currently lives in Hawaii and has criminal records in other states, wrote that he felt guilty about electing a president “who ended up being stupid.”
In an unrelated case, Oran Alexander Routh, the suspect’s son, was arrested Tuesday on charges of possession of child pornography, according to court documents.
