Ryan Routh, 59, pointed a rifle through a fence as Trump played golf in West Palm Beach, Florida, last September but told a court that he did not intend to kill the President
A bungling gunman who tried to shoot Donald Trump stabbed himself in the neck with a pen after being found guilty of the botched assassination attempt. Ryan Routh, 59, pointed a rifle through a fence as Trump played golf in West Palm Beach, Florida, last September.
Routh fled without firing a shot after a Secret Service agent patrolling the course ahead of Trump saw him and the rifle and opened fire, a court heard.
He was found guilty of all five charges, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence and assaulting a Secret Service agent.
Routh was found lurking with a gun on Donald Trump’s Florida golf course on September 15 last year, two months after the then-Presidential candidate survived a previous assassination attempt when a bullet grazed his ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
At the start of the trial, prosecutor John Shipley said “this plot was carefully crafted and deadly serious”, adding that without the agent intervening, “Donald Trump would not be alive”.
Routh, who faces the prospect of life in prison, pleaded not guilty to all five charges against him and opted to defend himself in court. But he was found guilty of all counts following a trial in Florida.
Federal prosecutors rested their case last Friday after spending a total of seven days presenting 38 witnesses. The verdict came after a trial that took two-and-a-half weeks. Routh spent little time cross-examining prosecution witnesses and called just three people to testify in his defence.
The court heard he was armed with a semi-automatic rifle while then-candidate Trump was playing golf on September 15, 2024. Secret Service agents spotted him hiding in shrubbery with an SKS-style rifle, which Routh had argued was never pointed at the president.
An agent fired at Routh, who fled the scene without firing any shots of his own. He was stopped roughly 45 minutes while driving north on Interstate 95.
In his closing argument, Routh told the jury that federal prosecutors had not proved “any intent” to kill. He said: “No one ever intended to kill anyone. The rifle was never picked up from its resting place.”
Trump praised District Judge Aileen Cannon and Department of Justice leadership on his Truth Social account after the verdict. He posted: “The trial was meticulously handled, and I would like to thank the Judge and Jury for their time, professionalism, and patience. This was an evil man with an evil intention, and they caught him.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi said the verdict reflects the Justice Department’s “commitment to punishing those who engage in political violence”. She added: “This attempted assassination was not only an attack on our president, but an affront to our very nation itself.”
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