Suspect in apparent assassination attempt on Trump was near golf course for 12 hours, records show

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Associated Press

U.S. News
Suspect in apparent assassination attempt on Trump was near golf course for 12 hours, records show

By TERRY SPENCER, STEPHANY MATAT, ERIC TUCKER, ALANNA DURKIN RICHER and COLLEEN LONG
Updated 2:43 PM EDT, September 16, 2024

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The man suspected in an apparent assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump camped outside a golf course with food and a rifle for nearly 12 hours, lying in wait for the former president before a Secret Service agent thwarted the potential attack and opened fire, according to court documents filed Monday.

{snip}

Underscoring the level of planning involved, Routh is believed to have been positioned at the tree line of the golf course from about 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m. Sunday, according to an FBI affidavit that cites cellphone data. A digital camera, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a plastic bag containing food were recovered from the area where Routh had been standing, according to the affidavit.

{snip}

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/trump-fbi-assassination-attempt-fee81d8bcf737bfcde2ee8e5cea88465

---

The rest of the article is the same stuff that's been circulating for the last 24 hours.

[Prairie Gates]

1. The US Secret Service seems, um, not that competent

Don't get me wrong. I think sending an advance guy a hole ahead was great, and the guy did his job to perfection. But seriously, this guy had apparently set up some manner of hunting blind in the tree line of the golf course where Trump golfs? Are you absolutely kidding me?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

4. I wonder how many others have set up camps and blinds along the golf course, ...

... armed with nothing more than a camera and a long lens.

Maybe a tent in the area is not so unusual.

[Igel]

8. Doesn't mention a tent.

It's Los Angeles.

I could imagine somebody getting there in the wee hours of the morning and just waiting. Take a nap, maybe have a sleeping mat. Why a tent? Not cold, not raining, no dew. Just lay low, hang out snacking and reading or ruminating (on thoughts, not plants) until the appropriate time. Easy to hide from the Secret Service unless they actually whack the bushes or send in the hounds to flush out prey. (Even a duck or bird blind is likely to fool deer or ducks than Secret Service.)

I've done that in Oregon before fishing (where I had a pole and bait) and deer hunting (where I was along sans deer tag but flushed prey and drank beer and hung out with friends on BLM land). Of course, this was Oregon before the rains came to stay for the winter.

Pulling up some pix of the golf course, the trees/brush at the "tree line" are pretty thick and pretty deep. I'd personally hate to vouch for nobody being in there, esp. given the Secret Service contingent size. It would take a couple of dozen agents hours to sweep the woods--with no guarantee that somebody couldn't show up after the sweep and an hour before Trump.

[Nasruddin]

16. Thought it was in West Palm

[IbogaProject]

25. Florida

Desantis is grand standing that Florida will investigate it themselves.

[oldmanlynn]

22. Before trump maga we didnt need to be so overly careful

We didnt have this kind if hatred and contempt 10 years ago as we have today

[forthemiddle]

2. I wonder if he did this on other days leading up to the attempt

It’s been reported that Trump decided, at the last minute, to go golfing. I wonder if this guy went there on multiple occasions just waiting for Trump to show up.

[cstanleytech]

3. It's odd how both this guy and the other were able to slip past the secret service.

[maxsolomon]

6. Understaffed to cover the entire perimeter of the course

at all times.

[Igel]

9. And monitor the interior of the "tree line."

Look at images of the course. It's surrounded by a not incredibly wide but still fairly thick buffer of scrub and trees. (Don't want a golf ball to land in there ... Getting it out would be a pain, unless you picked it up and carried it.)

[cstanleytech]

12. Still it's odd IMO

[slightlv]

13. I find it not only odd,

I find it utterly unbelievable that these guys are THAT bad with all their guns! I mean, I thought they were suppose to be superduper sharpshooters or something! They never seem to hit what they're aiming for, and a lot of time just cause tragic collateral damage.

I know I *used* to be a sharpshooter... got the medals to prove it. But damn, even I know at my age I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn these days. Who are these guys?!

I mean, I'm sorry... until T is actually truly injured with something more than an ear nick, I'm going to believe it's all political theatre garnered to gain him sympathy. And he ain't getting it from me... not when they do REAL damage to Democrats and normal, regular people! This just p**ses me off!

[yagotme]

15. It would have to be a super-dooper shooter to shoot at someone

at 130 yards, and purposefully "just nick him in the ear". That rifle setup is not capable of that accuracy. I know that I wouldn't want to be downrange in that scenario...

[Think. Again.]

5. Wow, people really, really, hate trump.

[joshdawg]

26. Don't hate him,

just have absolutely no use for him.
He's just something one scrapes off the bottom of their shoes.

[Farmer-Rick]

30. Yeah, they kind of do hate him

He's clearly come out and said he will be a dictator. He has the 2025 plan that lays out how he'll do it. It's directions for how to turn the US into a totalitarian government of draconian and repressive laws. Reminds me a lot of China.

So, I can understand why people hate him. He's trying to absolutely destroy our democracy.

[bdamomma]

34. Aren't

(wanna be) dictators usually targets??? But maybe this the felon's way to gather sympathy????

Did they mention the motive for this action???

[JohnnyRingo]

7. Getting a tee time on Sunday afternoon can be murder.

Gotta get there early if you hope to get a shot at it.

[Igel]

10. So, he wants a mulligan?

Since he couldn't get a hole in one?

(Yeah, really tacky, cheesy attempts at a lame pun given two attempts. I hate 10 hour days with at least 3 hours of home work ahead of me ... To be repeated Tuesday, Wednesday. Friday's going to be a 12 hour work day and Friday a mere 9. (But I'm only on for 2 hours Saturday, dance duty, 9:30 - 11:30, plus time to clear the building and parking lot on, as they put it, "your own time".)

[Jack Valentino]

32. I see what you did there...

[PSPS]

11. Why would he be there, especially at 2 AM, if trump decided "at the last minute" to go golfing?

In other words, how did he know in advance that trump would make such a "last minute" decision? This sounds more and more like a choreographed event than a real "assassination attempt."

[slightlv]

14. Has anything been released about this guy?

Who he is... what his political leanings are? (Not that we could really trust it without research, anyway). I've been in bed with a lupus flare all day and as of last night, the stories were still all over everywhere. No idea what really happened.

[moniss]

17. Remember that Roger Stone is working in the

shadows like always. There is nothing I would put past him.

[hay rick]

19. Maybe 2 AM is a good time to carry an AR-15 and other equipment without being noticed. nt

[Random Boomer]

28. Because Trump is constantly golfing

The golf course is the most likely place for Trump to show up eventually. Sounds like this guy was willing to wait hours, if not days. Eventually, Trump would be there.

[Jack Valentino]

33. Yup. I would guess that the odds of Trump going golfing on a Sunday when no

campaign events are scheduled would actually be pretty good. It doesn't take a rocket scientist.

[C0RI0LANUS]

18. FBI Criminal Complaint for Ryan Wesley Routh

Ryan Wesley Routh (58) of Hawaii, has been charged by a criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida with firearms charges related to an incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sept. 15.

Routh was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number and made his initial appearance today before Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe in the federal courthouse in West Palm Beach. A detention hearing has been scheduled for Sept. 23. The investigation remains ongoing.

According to allegations in the criminal complaint, a Secret Service agent walking the golf course perimeter saw what appeared to be a rifle poking out of the tree line. After the agent fired a service weapon in the direction of the rifle, a witness saw a man later identified as Routh fleeing the area of the tree line. Routh was later apprehended by officers from the Martin County Sheriff’s Office, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

The complaint alleges that in the area of the tree line from which Routh fled, agents found a digital camera, a backpack, a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope and a black plastic bag containing food. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated.

According to the complaint, Routh was convicted of felonies in North Carolina in December 2002 and March 2010.

Criminal Complaint Link:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1368091/dl

USDOJ Press Release:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/suspect-trump-international-golf-course-charged-firearms-offenses

[4lbs]

20. Dude didn't fire his weapon, so... where did the shots come from?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/golf/donald-trump-golf-course-shooter-found-in-bushes-with-an-ak-47/ar-AA1qCKyW

Donald Trump was unharmed after reports of gunfire near him on Sunday afternoon in Florida, according to statements from his campaign and the Secret Service.

CNN's John Miller reported: "Officials believe the shots fired at Trump International Golf Club were intended for former President Donald Trump, according to sources familiar with the matter."



https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/09/16/us/trump-shooting-news/the-rifle-found-at-trumps-golf-course-is-relatively-cheap-and-niche-compared-with-the-ar-15


The SKS semiautomatic rifle that federal investigators say Ryan W. Routh, the suspect in an apparent assassination attempt on former president Donald J. Trump, left behind at Mr. Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course in Florida was loaded but had not been fired that day.

The rifle, designed by the Soviets in the 1940s with a self-loading carbine system, was found propped on a fence at the golf club, affixed with a telescopic sight, police photos showed.

[C0RI0LANUS]

21. According to the FBI Criminal Complaint,

the USSS agent fired his weapon toward the rifle he saw in the tree line. The complaint does not allege Routh fired any shots at ex-POTUS Trump.

[Bengus81]

31. True but the MSM keeps wording it like Trump was shot at--total BS to sell advertising....n't

[Icanthinkformyself]

27. No part of either

'attempt' passes the sell test. Rotting fish smell better. The Convicted Felon's schedule did not include the course. As for the first one, where's the wound? As for this one, how did he know where to be and when? Just a few of a thousand questions.

[Bengus81]

29. And the other shooter was flying a drone around the rally area for a hour or so

Rigged...........