“He knew the performance was over”

The man accused of the second alleged assassination attempt on former President Trump was “composed” and calm as police officers approached him, signaling that he knew “the matter was over,” said the Florida sheriff who arrested him.

In an interview with America Reports on Monday, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder praised law enforcement and thanked an innocent civilian for providing him with a photograph of the black Nissan used by 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh to escape.

Minutes earlier, Secret Service agents had fired shots in Routh’s direction when they saw him pushing a rifle through the fence, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the former president played a round of golf.

“The coordination between the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, who gave us the information, and my traffic enforcement officers went flawlessly,” Snyder said. “If it hadn't been for a civilian witness who did the right thing and gave us a description and even a picture of it, and if the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office hadn't been so good at relaying that information, the guy would have passed us by and who knows what would have happened.”

WHO IS RYAN WESLEY ROUTH: ALLEGED SHOOTER AT TRUMP GOLF CLUB

Snyder described the few “very tense” minutes before authorities were able to track down the suspected bomber. Despite 30 guns pointed at him and helicopters flying overhead, Routh seemed strangely unfazed as police approached, Snyder recalled.

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“Right after the stop, I saw someone who was very calm and very controlled. Even though we had armed officers everywhere, probably 30 officers out there, with guns, a helicopter overhead, I-95 was closed north and south. He was right in the middle of it and never asked, 'Hey, what's going on?' When I saw that, I realized he knew what time it was,” Snyder said.

“He knew the gig was canceled and he got caught.”

Snyder said he was initially informed at the time that shots had been fired, but he was not informed that the shots had been fired by Secret Service agents.

“We acted on that potential and that intelligence and made sure they no longer thought we were dealing with an armed assassin of the former president,” he said.

“We knew we were probably going to conduct the most spectacular stop in the history of this sheriff's office,” he added. “We had the wanted poster from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. We knew the description of the vehicle, the license plate number … we knew they were heading north on I-95. We got on the interstate and one of my patrol officers found the vehicle out of traffic, called the location, surrounded it with heavy-duty trucks, forced it off the road and then took the suspect out of the vehicle at gunpoint and secured him.”

BODYCAM VIDEO ARREST OF SUSPECT IN ATTEMPTED MURDER OF TRUMP

Authorities said Routh was carrying two backpacks, ceramic bullet-resistant plates and a GoPro camera when he was arrested. Authorities also confiscated his rifle.

Bodycam footage released Monday afternoon captured the moment officers arrested Routh. The video shows officers ordering the driver to slowly walk backwards toward officers with his hands on his head after he surrendered.

Routh appeared for a hearing in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday morning, where he was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Fox News has been told that additional federal charges are possible. The initial charges announced Monday keep Routh in custody.

Fox News' Stephen Sorance and Stepheny Price contributed to this report.

Source of the original article: Suspect in Trump assassination attempt was strangely “calm” during arrest, says sheriff: “He knew it was over”