On Sunday EST, former US President and Republican presidential candidate Trump faced an “attempted assassination” incident at the West Palm Beach golf course in Florida. After the incident, Trump was safe and the suspect was apprehended.

Several US media quoted law enforcement officials as saying that the suspect was 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh (Ryan Wesley Routh) from Hawaii. According to social media records and past interviews with this suspect, he may be an avid supporter of Ukraine in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

The US Secret Service announced the circumstances of the incident

On Sunday afternoon EST, the US Secret Service said at a press conference that the incident occurred at 13:30 local time and was located near Trump National Golf Club. Trump was playing golf at the time. Secret Service personnel caught a suspect sticking his gun out of the stadium fence and immediately shot and stopped him. The suspect then fled by car and was later arrested in neighboring Martin County. No one was injured in the incident.

The US Secret Service said that several agents exchanged fire with the gunman and fired at least four shots at him. The gunman then threw down his AK-47 rifle, two backpacks, a Go Pro camera, and other items and fled in a black Nissan.

US police showed bags left by the gunman at the scene

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw (Ric Bradshaw), an eyewitness managed to take a picture of the suspect gunman's car and license plate and hand them over to the authorities.

Soon after, sheriffs in neighboring Martin County stopped the suspect on Interstate 95 and detained him.

Suspected fanatical supporters of Ukraine

According to foreign media reports, a few hours after the suspect's identity was revealed, the suspect's personal data on X and Facebook were deleted. According to records of statements made by the suspect on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, as well as related media interviews, he appears to be an avid supporter of the Ukrainian side in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

A few weeks after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in 2022, Ross posted on social media site X and wrote:

“I'd like to fly to Krakow, volunteer at the Ukrainian border, and fight to the death.”

According to the “New York Times” report, the media interviewed Ross in 2023 about an article about Americans volunteering to help the war in Ukraine. Ross told the New York Times at the time that he had traveled to Ukraine in 2022 and stayed there for several months trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.

The New York Times reports that the suspect was interviewed in 2023

On April 21 of this year, Ross sent Elon Musk a message on X, and he wrote, “I want to buy a rocket from you. I want to put a warhead on it and shoot it at the bunker of Putin's Black Sea mansion to kill him. Can you give me a price?”

Routh also expressed support for Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders on X in 2020 and mocked Biden as “Sleepy Joe (Sleepy Joe).”

Earlier this year, Routh expressed his support for Biden and his dislike for Trump in a post on X:

“@POTUS (Author's note: US President's official X account) Your campaign should be called KADAF — Keep America Democratic and Free (Keep America Democratic and Free). Trump should be MASA—make Americans slaves again master (make Americans slaves again). Democracy depends on voting; we cannot lose.”

edit/new