Washington: The suspected gunman in an alleged attempted assassination of Donald Trump at the former president’s golf course has been identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old father from Hawaii.
Law enforcement identified the suspect to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss the ongoing investigation.
Suspected gunman Ryan Wesley Routh.Credit: Facebook
The suspect dropped the weapon and fled in an SUV and was later taken into custody in a neighbouring county, authorities said. A motive is unclear. Local authorities said the gunman had two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera.
Routh’s son, Oran Routh, has told US broadcaster CNN that he does not know what has happened to his father but “hopes things have just been blown out of proportion”.
“Ryan is my father and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father, an honest hard-working man,” Oran Routh told CNN.
“I don’t know what’s happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion because from the little I’ve heard it doesn’t sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent.
“He’s a good father and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light”.
Among other details to emerge, Routh evidently had been involved in efforts to support Ukraine in its defence against Russia.
US media outlet Semafor reported that last year Routh had acted as the leader of a group called the International Volunteer Centre, which sought to bring foreign troops to Ukraine to assist Kyiv.
