A gunman tried to kill Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump yesterday at his golf course in Palm Beach, Florida, US authorities said, as quoted by Reuters.
The American televisions CNN and Fox News, as well as in the New York Times. identified the suspect as 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh of Hawaii, citing U.S. law enforcement officials. The FBI declined to comment and Reuters was unable to verify his identity. Here's what we know so far about the suspected shooter:
The Secret Service said its agents were accompanying Trump to the golf course when one of them, checking holes on the course ahead of him, noticed a gun barrel in the bushes near the property line. Several agents engaged the gunman and fired at least four shots at him. After that, the shooter threw away his AK-47 type rifle, two backpacks, a special "GoPro" camera and other items and fled in a black Nissan. Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said an eyewitness was able to take a picture of the suspected shooter's car and turned it over to authorities.
A short time later, sheriff's deputies from neighboring Martin County stopped the suspect on Interstate 95 and took him into custody.
Reuters found profiles on the social platforms "X", "Facebook" and "LinkedIn" to Ryan Routh. The free access to his profiles on "Facebook" and "X" was removed hours after the shooting. The three profiles with Raut's name show that he was an outspoken supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia.
On April 21, Raut sent a message on "X" to Elon Musk, which reads: "I would like to buy a rocket from you. I want to load it with a warhead for Putin's bunker at his Black Sea estate to eliminate him. Can you give me a price please".
The newspaper "New York Times" reported interviewing Raut in 2023 about an article about Americans volunteering to help Ukraine. Raut told the newspaper that he traveled to that country and spent several months there in 2022 trying to recruit Afghan soldiers who had fled the Taliban to fight in Ukraine.
"A lot of other conflicts are gray, but this one is definitely black and white. "It's about the fight of good against evil," said Raut in an interview published by "Newsweek Romania" magazine. in June 2022. His words suggest that he was in Kiev at the time.
Raut said he originally planned to go to Ukraine to fight, but was not accepted because of his age and lack of military experience.
The International Legion, which includes many foreign fighters in Ukraine, has said it has no connection to Raut.
The shooting suspect's son, Adam, contacted by Reuters at his workplace in Hawaii, said he had not yet heard about the latest assassination attempt on Trump and had no information, adding that it not something he believes his father did.
Later, the agency's journalist called again and a colleague of Adam's stated that he had gone home in an emergency.
Another of Raut's sons, Oran, told CNN: "I have no comment beyond that as a profile of his character as a loving and caring father... I don't know what happened in Florida and I hope , that things were just blown out".