The man arrested for an apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump made his feelings about the former US President known in an old tweet.
The suspect who tried to shoot at Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida on sunday, September 15, was identified as Ryan Wesley Routh, aged 58.
In a tweet shared in June 2020, Routh called out Trump.
He wrote: “@realDonaldTrump While you were my choice in 2106, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving; are you retarded; I will be glad when you gone.”
“Donald Trump, I will be glad when you gone” Old tweet shared by would-be Trump assassin emerges
Trump was playing golf Sunday afternoon at his Trump International Golf course.
At around 1.30pm a suspect was seen poking a rifle through the fence around the perimeter of the course, Ric Bradshaw the Palm Beach County Sheriff said at a press conference.
The suspect was near the fourth or fifth hole. This was one or two holes ahead of where Trump was playing.
On September 15, while Trump was playing at his golf course, a U.S. Secret Service who was one hole ahead of Trump’s group on the course spotted the suspect in the shrubbery by the fence and “immediately engaged” him.
“Donald Trump, I will be glad when you gone” Old tweet shared by would-be Trump assassin emerges
“Donald Trump, I will be glad when you gone” Old tweet shared by would-be Trump assassin emerges
The officer opened fire. The suspect abandoned the weapon and escaped in a Nissan SUV.
A witness told police he saw the suspect running out of the bushes, jumped into a black Nissan vehicle. The witness took a photograph of the vehicle, which allowed police to track the suspect via the licence plate.
“Donald Trump, I will be glad when you gone” Old tweet shared by would-be Trump assassin emerges
The suspect had an AK-style rifle with a scope, two backpacks hanging on a fence and a GoPro camera.
Photos shared by law enforcement show two black bags hanging from a chain-link fence in the shrubbery outside the course, with the firearm propped up in between them and pointed through a gap in the fence. The GoPro camera was hanging on the fence to the side.
The suspect fled in the SUV and was later apprehended in a nearby county without a weapon, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.