The United States on Wednesday charged the gunman accused of stalking Donald Trump for 12 hours at his Florida golf course and expressing a desire to kill him for attempted assassination.
In a letter addressed to the world, Ryan Wesley Routh had expressed his desire to kill the former US president.
Prosecutors claim he wrote about his plans to kill Trump in a handwritten note months before his September 15 arrest, describing his actions as a failed “assassination attempt” and offering $150,000 to anyone who could “finish the job.” This note was found in a box that Routh reportedly dropped off at the home of an unnamed witness prior to his arrest.
Initially facing two federal firearms charges, he has now been indicted on five counts, reflecting the Justice Department’s view that he carefully planned to assassinate the Republican nominee.
Authorities allege he aimed a rifle through the bushes at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course while the former president was playing.
Routh had a handwritten list in his car detailing venues where Trump had appeared or was scheduled to be present in August, September, and October.
The potential shooting was averted when a member of Trump’s Secret Service detail noticed a partially obscured face and a rifle barrel peeking through the golf course fence, near where Trump was playing.
The charge of attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate could result in a life sentence if convicted. The indictment also includes charges of assaulting a federal officer, possessing a firearm in connection with a violent crime, as well as the two original firearms offenses he faced last week.