HeadlineInternationalNews

Gunman in Failed Trump Assassination Attempt Charged to Court

 The man accused of staking out Donald Trump’s Florida golf course with a rifle was indicted on Tuesday on a charge of attempted assassination of a political candidate, federal prosecutors said.
Ryan Routh, 58, was already facing two gun-related charges after authorities said he pointed a rifle through a fence at Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sept. 15 while the Republican presidential candidate was golfing there. He has been ordered to remain in jail to await trial.

The new indictment was issued late Tuesday by a grand jury a panel of citizens with investigative powers in Miami, Florida, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Court documents indicated that the case was assigned at random to Federal Judge Aileen Cannon — a Trump appointee who stopped criminal proceedings against the former president over his retention of top-secret documents at his private residence.

In addition to attempted assassination of a presidential candidate, the new charges also include possession of a firearm in furtherance of a violent crime and assault on a federal officer, who court documents indicated was a Secret Service agent.

Routh’s gun was spotted poking out from the bushes by a Secret Service agent as he scouted ahead during Trump’s golf game. The agent fired on the suspect, who fled but was later apprehended.

A federal judge ruled on Monday that Routh should remain in custody.

FBI analysis of Routh’s phone showed he had been in Florida since August 18, and his devices were located multiple times between that date and September 15 near Trump’s golf course and his Mar-a-Lago residence, prosecutors said.

Before being spotted by the Secret Service agent, he had spent nearly 12 hours in the vicinity of the club, according to his phone location data, the prosecution has said.

It was the second assassination attempt on Trump this summer. The first took place on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when a gunman opened fire, killing one person and wounding Trump in the ear.

The candidate was otherwise unharmed, and the gunman was killed at the scene and is not thought to be connected with Routh’s alleged plot.

Trump had previously accused the Department of Justice and FBI of “mishandling and downplaying” the golf course incident.

“The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist,” Trump said in a written statement released this week which may have been prepared before it emerged that extra felony counts on top of the earlier gun charges were a possibility.

In a statement littered with falsehoods and baseless conspiracy theories about his various criminal cases, Trump called for the Routh case to be handed to state authorities in Florida, which is run by hard-right Republican Governor Ron DeSantis.

DeSantis said earlier this month that the state will run its own investigation and seek tougher charges.

Share this:

Comfort Samuel

I work with TV360 Nigeria, as a broadcast journalist, producer and reporter. I'm so passionate on what I do.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *