Man in custody after incident at Trump golf club was once convicted of possession of a machine gun

The man imprisoned in connection with an alleged second assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has been outspoken about U.S. support for Ukraine and has a long history of criminal and civil charges, including a conviction for possession of a machine gun.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was taken into custody after shots were fired at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday, three senior law enforcement sources said. Court records show he was convicted in 2002 of possessing a weapon of mass destruction – the machine gun.

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In that case, a man named Ryan Routh, then 36, is said to have led authorities on a chase before hiding out at a roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to a report in the Greensboro News & Record at the time.

A person named Ryan Routh lived in North Carolina for decades, according to land records. Most recently, a certain Ryan Routh lived in the small coastal community of Kaaawa on the east coast of Oahu, Hawaii. Authorities there did not immediately respond to a request for comment about possible contact with Routh.

After the 2002 arrest, authorities found the suspect in possession of a fully automatic machine gun, according to the Greensboro News & Record report. The arrest is consistent with North Carolina criminal court records in which Routh was convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction.

The record also shows convictions for carrying a concealed weapon, receiving stolen property and hit and run. In those cases, which included convictions for misdemeanors such as resisting an officer and driving without a license, the defendant received a suspended sentence and was released on probation.

There are no records of anyone being held in a state prison in connection with these cases in the early 2000s.

According to court records, more than 100 charges have been filed against Ryan Routh in North Carolina, most of them in Guilford County, which oversees Greensboro. The exact outcome of each case was not immediately clear Sunday.

Court records for a person named Ryan Routh also show a 2003 divorce and several civil judgments after contractors and individuals sued a roofing company he helped manage.

Routh told the publication Semafor last year that he was director of a group he called the International Volunteer Center as part of its efforts to support Ukraine's war against Russia.

Routh spoke of his frustration with Ukraine because of what he said were obstacles to accepting foreign fighters, including Afghan commandos, who had either volunteered or were willing to join Ukraine's war effort.

“Cooperation with Ukraine is often difficult,” he told Semafor. “They are afraid that everyone is a Russian spy.”

In a 2022 interview with Newsweek, Routh said he was 56 at the time, from North Carolina, and flew to Ukraine from Hawaii. He complained about the U.S. leadership regarding Ukraine and called for greater U.S. government support for the country.

“This conflict is clearly black and white,” he said. “It's about good versus evil.”

Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, after Trump's term in the White House. Trump promoted a debunked conspiracy theory that Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election and refused to say whether he wanted Ukraine to win its war against Russia. He also expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

There was no immediate indication that Trump's stance on Ukraine was the reason for Routh's alleged actions on Sunday.

It also appears that while living in Hawaii, Routh made several small contributions to the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue, including 19 payments in 2019 and 2020 ranging from $1 to $25, according to Federal Election Commission records. ActBlue did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment on the donations Sunday evening.

On Sunday, Palm Beach County District Attorney Dave Aronberg told MSNBC that the federal government is taking over prosecution in the West Palm Beach case and the U.S. Department of Justice is expected to file charges.

He argued that a defendant does not have to open fire to face attempted murder charges in the case.

Aronberg said he understood that Routh was “lying in wait” for Trump before Secret Service agents discovered him. Routh aimed at the agent who shot him, Aronberg said, although the exact timing of events is still unclear.

Routh was “pretty calm” and “pretty cooperative” after Martin County Sheriff's traffic police took him into custody on Interstate 95, a county north of Palm Beach, Aronberg said.