An associate of the suspect in the alleged assassination attempt on Donald Trump has said he is ‘shocked’ at hearing the news.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was detained after an AK47-style rifle was spotted as the presidential candidate played at Trump National Golf Club in Florida.
Secret Service agents opened fire after seeing a muzzle through fencing around the venue in West Palm Beach.
Routh, a Ukraine activist and former construction worker living in Hawaii, has been identified as the suspect.
An associate of Routh’s, who met him a couple of times in Kyiv last year, told Metro.co.uk: ‘I was shocked to hear the news this morning.
‘He was trying to develop a couple of strategies in Ukraine; one was Defence through supporting the International Legion and the other was attracting investment from other countries.
‘He seemed like a harmless old man and I would never have thought that he could be accused of attempted murder.’
Routh’s social media channels show he had been approaching celebrities, musicians, politicians and journalists in trying to support Ukraine.
Several pictures have emerged showing him attending rallies in Kyiv in support of the country’s fight against Russian military aggression.
In 2023, he told the New York Times that he had travelled to Ukraine after the full-scale invasion to find military recruits among Afghan soldiers who had escaped the Taliban.
Routh has also tried to build bridges with North Korea, saying on X that he wanted to arrange a US tour for supreme leader Kim Jong Un.
He told one journalist that ‘we can build a friendship between Kim and the American people and end all sanctions and hostilities.’
(Picture: EPA)
The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine told the BBC that Routh has no association with the unit ‘in any capacity’.
The person, who did not want to be named, said: ‘He was trying to shout about investment in Ukraine and I told him not to make such a big advertisement about it, but I left it to him.
‘He was trying to link people from different worlds, including politicians and at the US Embassy in Ukraine, but this type of situation wasn’t at his level.
‘As to his work in Ukraine now, it is up to the courts to decide if he is innocent or guilty so if he is guilty I presume it will not continue.’
A Secret Service agent who was a few holes ahead of Trump at about 1.30pm local time on Sunday reportedly saw a rifle barrel poking through a tree line on the course, which had been shut down while the tycoon played.
The agent is said to have immediately ‘engaged’ the gunman.
After shots were heard, the suspect fled in an SUV before being arrested by police in Martin County, about 45 miles north of the golf course.
It’s not clear whether the gunman fired the weapon.
Trump and golf partner Steve Witkoff reportedly told Fox News that they had been on the fifth hole when they heard a ‘pop, pop, pop, pop’ sound.
Speaking to host Sean Hannity, a friend of Trump’s, Witkoff said that Secret Service agents ‘pounced’ on the Republic presidential nominee and ‘covered him’ to protect him before a ‘fast car’ with steel enforcement and other protection took him away.
‘They heard pop, pop, pop, pop,’ Hannity said, describing what Trump and Witkoff had told him.
The FBI recovered an AK-47-style firearm and a scope, two backpacks and a GoPro camera from a bush.
The bureau said the incident ‘appears to be an attempted assassination of former President Trump.’
The FBI, US Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are investigating the incident.
Trump said he was ‘safe and well’ and ‘nothing will slow me down’.
The incident comes two months after Trump was shot at a rally in Pennsylvania and left with an ear injury.
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