The suspect in the latest apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump was in custody on Sunday night after being apprehended unarmed, having apparently abandoned his assault rifle at the golf course before fleeing, The Guardian reported.
According to the Associated Press, records show Routh, 58, lived in North Carolina for most of his life before moving to Kaaawa, Hawaii, in 2018. There, he and his son operated a company building sheds, according to an archived version of the webpage for the business.
Routh frequently posted on social media about the war in Ukraine and had a website where he sought to raise money and recruit volunteers to go to Kyiv to join the fight against the Russian invasion. A photo of Routh posted on the webpage shows him smiling, wearing a T-shirt and jacket adorned with American flags.
In June 2020, he made a post on X that asked then-President Trump to win reelection by issuing an executive order directing the Department of Justice to prosecute police misconduct.
That year, he also posted in support of the Democratic presidential campaign of then-US Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, who has since shifted her support to Trump.
However, in recent years, his posts appear to have soured on Trump and expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump in Pennsylvania, Routh urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting at the hospital and attend the funeral of a fireman killed at the rally.
“Trump will never do anything for them .... show the world what compassion and humanity is all about,” said a post on Routh’s feed, apparently addressing Harris.
Voter registration records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in-person during the state’s Democratic Party primary in March 2024.
Routh also made 19 small pollical donations totaling $140 since 2019 using his Hawaii address to ActBlue, a political action committee that supports Democratic candidates, according to the federal campaign finance records.