Man Charged in Second Alleged Assassination Attempt of Former President Trump

On Sep. 16, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida unsealed an affidavit and criminal complaint against Ryan Wesley Routh, the man arrested yesterday for the alleged assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. The complaint charges Routh with two counts: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

The affidavit alleges that Routh appears to have hidden in the tree line on the golf course and that Secret Service agents later found in that location “a backpack, a loaded SKS-style, 7.62x39 caliber rifle with a scope, and a black plastic bag containing food.” According to the affidavit, Routh was detained by the Martin County Sheriff’s office on I-95 after appearing to have fled when a Secret Service agent noticed the man and fired at him. 

This is the second apparent assassination attempt against the former president since July, when a gunman shot at Trump, wounding him in the ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. 

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