By Jonathan Allen, Brad Brooks and Andrew Hay, Reuters
Ryan Wesley Routh following his arrest in Martin County, Florida, on 15 September. Photo: AFP PHOTO / MARTIN COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE
Ryan Routh, the man who authorities allege carried out an apparent attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump, has a lengthy criminal history and connections to the war in Ukraine.
Routh, 58, was charged with two gun-related crimes in a federal court in Florida on Monday, a day after he was spotted with a rifle hiding in shrubbery on the property line of Trump's golf course. More charges are expected.
Officials have not cited any possible motives.
One of Routh's sons described him as a loving father.
North Carolina voting records show that Routh had no party affiliation, though he did vote in this year's Democratic Party primary.
A former neighbour in North Carolina called him "cool".
But he was also painted as "delusional" by two people who worked as foreign fighters in the Ukraine war, a country he travelled to in 2022, trying to recruit soldiers to fight against Russia.
In the criminal complaint federal prosecutors filed, they say Routh has a 2002 felony conviction in North Carolina for "possession of a weapon of mass destruction."
This screengrab taken from AFPTV on September 16 shows Ryan Wesley Routh speaking during an interview at a rally. Photo: AFPTV / AFP
In that case, Routh fled from a traffic stop by a police officer in Greensboro, North Carolina, and barricaded himself inside his roofing business for several hours before police were able to arrest him, according to court records and a 2002 news article by the Greensboro News & Record.
Routh pleaded guilty to possession of an unregistered fully automatic gun, which is defined in North Carolina law as a weapon of mass destruction and is a felony punishable by up to 59 months prison, according to the county district attorney's office and the Guilford County Superior Court's clerk office. He was sentenced to probation, the county district attorney's office said.
Routh had other frequent run-ins with the law in North Carolina going back to at least 1990, including possession of stolen goods, a history of writing bad checks and minor traffic offences, according to North Carolina court records. As the owner of various roofing companies, he has been repeatedly sued by people accusing him of not paying his bills.
Kim Mungo, 53, and a former neighbour of Routh's in Greensboro, North Carolina, said he was known to occasionally shoot weapons outside his home on holidays, though he had never done so in a manner that seemed threatening.
Routh moved out of the house in Greensboro several years ago, Mungo said. She was a close enough neighbour that she would occasionally cook in his home, saying "he was cool to me."
Mungo, who said she lived next to Routh for about a decade, said he had moved away several years ago, but that he had appeared in May of this year and was cleaning out the house, apparently intending to sell it.
"I ain't seen him in a while," Mungo said. "I don't know what his mindset was."
Posts on Ukraine, democracy
Photo: Youtube / Newsweek Romania
Reuters found profiles on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn for a Ryan Routh, and public access to the Facebook and X profiles was removed hours after the shooting.
The three accounts bearing Routh's name show he supported Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On 21 April, Routh directed an X message to Elon Musk, in which he wrote: "I would like to buy a rocket from you. I wish to load it with a warhead for Putins Black sea mansion bunker to end him. Can you give me a price please."
The New York Times reported it had interviewed Routh in 2023 for an article about Americans who were volunteering to help the Ukraine war effort. Routh told the Times he had travelled to Ukraine and spent several months there in 2022 and was trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.
One current and another former US volunteer serving with the foreign legion of Ukraine's army said they recalled Routh and believed that he spent time in the western Ukrainian city of Ivano-Frankivsk. Both of them said he exhibited odd behaviour.
Routh was blocked from the "Volunteers for Ukraine" chat group on Signal last year and blacklisted, after appearing "delusional" with promises to bring foreign volunteer recruits to the country despite having no military background, said a former U.S. volunteer with the legion, who asked not to be named.
While on leave from battle in Ukraine cities in the west, he and fellow volunteers tried their best to avoid Routh and others who made such grand promises, the volunteer told Reuters.
The International Legion, where many foreign fighters in Ukraine serve, said it had no links with Routh.
'Loving and caring father'
On X in 2020, Routh expressed support for Democratic US presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and mocked Joe Biden.
Earlier this year, Routh tagged Biden in a post on X: "@POTUS Your campaign should be called something like KADAF. Keep America democratic and free. Trumps should be MASA ...make Americans slaves again master. DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose."
The suspected gunman's son, Adam, reached shortly after the incident by Reuters at the hardware store where he works in Hawaii, said he had not yet heard of the newest Trump apparent assassination attempt and had no information, adding it was not something he believed his father would do.
Another son of Routh's, Oran, told CNN in a statement that "I don't have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father ... I don't know what's happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion."
- Reuters