THE The U.S. Attorney’s Office charged Ryan Routh with attempted murder TuesdaySuspect of wanting to kill former president Donald Trump (2017-2021) on September 15 on a golf course in Florida and who was already facing federal firearms charges for the same incident.
A new charge of attempted murder of a presidential candidate was added to the indictment Tuesday. “Violence against public officials endangers everything our country stands for,” he said in a statement collected by Efe United States Attorney General Merrick B. Garland.
“The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will uncover and “We will hold those who commit these acts to account.”he added.
On Monday, the prosecutor’s office released a handwritten letter from Routh, 58, in which detailed his plan to kill Trump and he regretted not having succeeded.
In the manuscript, 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 courtroom, Judge Ryon McCabe refused to grant bail to the accused.
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, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Routh was arrested by local police while driving a vehicle 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 resides in Hawaii and has criminal record In other states, he 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.
