Now that alleged Trump assassin Ryan Routh is in custody, the FBI and Florida Police It would take them time to understand his planning process and find out what motivated him.
Former NYPD investigator and security expert Patrick Brosnan told Fox News Digital that investigators will be sifting through a wealth of information in the coming weeks, including “cellular, anything related to online shopping; phone camera images, bank records, email correspondence, recent search engine queries, dating app activity, identifying any potential burner phones, footage from city streets, UPS trucks, Amazon trucks or backup cameras, and all cell tower pings within a certain distance.”
Using this information, investigators will develop a profile of Routh to answer these questions, according to SWAT Commander Gene Petrino, who has nearly three decades of experience in law enforcement and a master’s degree in security management.
Would-be Trump assassin Ryan Routh camped out for 12 hours under cover of darkness: court documents
Ryan W. Routh, a suspect in an attempted assassination of Republican presidential candidate former President Trump at a West Palm Beach golf course, stands in handcuffs after his arrest during a traffic stop near Palm City, Florida, September 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via Reuters)
1. Did Ryan Wesley Routh do this alone?
Petrino said investigators will obtain a warrant to examine Routh’s social media and speak to his family and associates to try to determine whether anyone else was involved in planning his killing Sunday afternoon or whether someone coached him beforehand.
“They would look for a potential accomplice or somebody who had information and didn’t say anything,” Petrino said.
The FBI said at a news conference Monday that it had no information to indicate Routh acted in collusion with anyone else.
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2. What was Rauth’s objective?
Investigators will look through associates and social media to try to figure out what allegedly prompted the 58-year-old to do this. Targeting the former president,
“They will definitely look into his background and his motive. They will pull up as many videos as they can of him, they will look at social media accounts, they will talk to neighbors,” Petrino said. “They will look into what may have motivated him or if he has a personal vendetta.”
Routh made a number of political posts on X. Before the assassination attempt on Sunday, he called Trump an “idiot”, “stupid” and “moron”, writing that he had supported Trump in 2016 but now considers that decision “a terrible mistake”. Routh wrote that Iran should “feel free”. Assassination of Trump I was also blamed for the error in that decision.”
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Members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department patrol outside the Trump International Golf Club on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida. (MEGA for Fox News Digital)
He also wrote that he was “willingly prepared to fight and die” to help. Ukrainian soldiers On the front line.
Routh is a pro-Ukraine activist who has spent time volunteering in the eastern European country to drum up more support for the country’s military efforts and has even enlisted the help of Afghan veterans who fled the Taliban to fight in the war, a New York Times report said.
“My guess is that if a guy is so passionate that he has to go to another country to defend another country, he might feel the same way about what needs to be done in his own country,” Petrino said.
3. How did Routh get hold of a firearm?
After Routh was spotted at the Trump International Golf Course and fled, police recovered a loaded SKS-style rifle with a scope attached and the serial number removed. Charged in federal court Monday and was booked with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with the serial number obliterated.
Routh has a criminal record in Guilford County, North Carolina dating back to the 1980s. He has been charged with everything from writing bad checks to possessing a weapon as a felony, possessing a stolen vehicle, and more. possession of a weapon of mass destruction In 2002, specifically, “a binary explosive with a 10-inch(f) blasting cord and a blasting cap.”
Bodycam footage released Monday shows Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh being taken into custody on Sunday, Sept. 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
“They will be investigating how he got the rifle and whether the rifle was used elsewhere,” Petrino said. “He has a prior weapon charge, which means you can’t get another weapon; how did he get another weapon if he was a convicted felon?”
4. How did Routh know where to ambush him?
According to court documents, Routh arrived outside the Trump International Golf Course under the cover of darkness and hid in bushes for approximately 12 hours.
Petrino said authorities need to figure out how they knew where Trump would be and how they planned the location to aim directly at the former president.
This courtroom sketch shows Routh in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. Routh faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. (Lothar Speer)
“You have to do some footwork to figure out where to hide,” Petrino said. “Could he have done it on a computer with Google Maps? Sure. But it seems like there was some planning and thought behind it. How did he know he had to go to that place? It’s very unlikely for him to be in that area, see a motorcade and say, ‘That’s the president, I’m going to get him’.”
“How did this guy get the ability to know where Trump was going? I think either there was a security breach or what he thought was a secure channel was wrong or somebody from the inside was providing information,” Petrino said.
Fox News Digital’s Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
