Agents Discovered 'Sniper's Nest' by Trump Golf Course

Law enforcement officials work at the crime scene outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on September 16, 2024, following Sunday's attempted assassination on former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

(The Center Square) – The man facing weapons charges after an alleged attempt on former President Donald Trump's life built his own sniper's nest by the sixth hole of the Trump International West Palm Beach golf course.

Federal prosecutors charged Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, with possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Prosecutors said they will seek to charge Routh with the attempted assassination, which carries a penalty of up to life in prison.

An FBI agent detailed in court documents the inside of the alleged gunman's sniper nest where prosecutors said he waited for hours with a scope-fitted rifle. A photo of the nest showed two bags hanging from a fence off the sixth hole. An FBI agent said the bags contained plates that could stop small arms fire. In between the two bags was an SKS rifle with a scope. Agents matched a fingerprint on the rifle to Routh.

Prosecutors said Routh had been planning to kill the former president for months.

Agents found a handwritten list of dates in August, September, and October 2024 and venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to be present in Routh's Nissan Xterra.

Routh also left a note.

Routh, resident of Hawaii and North Carolina and participant in the latter's March 5 primary, left the note with a person federal prosecutors described as a civilian witness several months before the Sept. 15 incident. According to court records filed Monday, the person reached out to law enforcement on Wednesday. The letter offered money to anyone who would finish the job.

The letter reads in part, "This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job."

Routh's attorney chalked it all up to a publicity stunt.

A U.S. Secret Service agent, a hole ahead of Trump walking the perimeter, spotted a rifle sticking out from the tree line. The agent fired in the direction of the rifle before a witness told authorities Routh sped away in a Nissan sport utility vehicle.

Routh's cellphone records indicated he had been camped out from 1:59 a.m. to 1:31 p.m., according to a criminal complaint filed in the federal case.

Authorities caught Routh on Interstate 95.

A judge ordered Routh remain in jail despite the defense's request for pre-trial release.

The FBI got cell records for two cell phones found in Routh's Nissan Xterra. The two phones were serviced by different carriers that used different cell towers. The FBI's analysis found that Routh traveled from the Greensboro, North Carolina, area, to West Palm Beach, Florida, on Aug. 14, 2024. It further found that on multiple days and times from Aug. 18, 2024, to Sept. 15, 2024, Routh's phone used cell towers located near Trump International and Trump's home at Mar-a-Lago.

Trump on Monday called the charges filed against Routh "a slap on the wrist" and demanded federal prosecutors allow the state of Florida to handle the case.

"The Kamala Harris/Joe Biden Department of Justice and FBI are mishandling and downplaying the second assassination attempt on my life since July," Trump said in a statement released by his campaign. "The charges brought against the maniac assassin are a slap on the wrist."

Routh is next due in court at 10 a.m. local time on Sept. 30 for an arraignment and preliminary examination, according to court records.

Routh's attempt was the second on Trump's life in as many months. U.S. Secret Service agents shot and killed a 20-year-old Pennsylvania man who shot at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. That man struck Trump's ear, killed a man attending the rally and injured two others.