Newsweek, September 2024
A presidential race already rocked by one assassination attempt on Donald Trump could now be impacted by a second attempt on the former president’s life, experts have told Newsweek. Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is accused of lying in wait for Trump while the former president golfed at his club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Sunday until Secret Service spotted a rifle poking out of bushes and opened fire, thwarting the possible attack. Routh fled in an SUV but was apprehended in a neighboring county.
He faces charges of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction and of possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Additional charges are possible. The episode marks the second attempt on Trump’s life in as many months, after a gunman opened fire from a rooftop while the Republican nominee was speaking at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Trump sustained an ear injury, while one rallygoer was killed and two others were injured.
