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The 58-year-old man accused of pointing an AK-47 at former President Donald Trump on Sunday afternoon has a prolific arrest record that spans several decades.
Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested shortly after the incident at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Authorities said Secret Service agents fired at him after seeing the muzzle of his AK-47 pointing through a chain-link fence one hole ahead of where Trump was playing.
Authorities are treating the episode as an apparent assassination attempt on Trump.
A background check on the name given by officials, Ryan Wesley Routh, revealed that he currently lives in Hawaii and has faced dozens of run-ins with police, stretching back to at least the 1990s.
Routh is a native of North Carolina, where his list of arrests includes simple drug possession, driving without a license, expired inspection and operating a vehicle with no insurance. In addition, the Greensboro News & Record reported in 2002 that Routh was arrested after barricading himself in his roofing company’s office during a three-hour standoff that followed a traffic stop in which he put his hand on a gun before fleeing.
Routh moved to Hawaii in 2017, records show. He has since launched another construction company in Hawaii that builds simple housing structures for homeless people, according to a LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Routh.
“This does not appear to be some random guy with an AK-47 walking outside Trump’s club,” an official said after the Sunday afternoon incident
News of the incident broke shortly after Trump was safely escorted off of the golf course.
A Secret Service member spotted the would-be gunman while Trump was playing on the course’s fifth hole. Officials say he abandoned an AK-47, a go-pro camera and two backpacks along a chain-link fence that borders the sixth hole of the course.
Routh fled in an SUV after a member of the Secret Service fired on him, but was soon arrested, according to authorities.
Trump’s campaign quickly issued a statement that the 45th president was safe, with Trump following up in a message to supporters that he will “never surrender.”
Fox News’ Lucas Tomlinson confirmed that the Secret Service opened fire after they saw a man lift an AK-47. The suspect fled in a car, but was quickly apprehended, authorities said.
“There were gunshots in my vicinity but before rumors start spiraling out of control, I wanted you to hear this first: I AM SAFE AND WELL!” he wrote in a message that was shared on social media.
Nothing will slow me down. I will NEVER SURRENDER!” he continued. “I will always love you for supporting me. Unity. Peace. Make America Great Again. May God bless you.
