Ryan Wesley Routh indicted for attempted assassination of Trump
A grand jury in Florida has indicted Ryan Wesley Routh for attempting to murder former President Donald Trump while the Republican candidate was at a golf course.
The Miami-based grand jury returned an indictment on Tuesday afternoon against the 58-year-old Routh for attempting to kill Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, earlier this month.
Routh was already facing charges of unlawful possession of a firearm as a felon, for which he faces as much as 15 years in prison and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
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Regarding the indictment, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement Tuesday that "the Department of Justice will use every available tool to hold Ryan Routh accountable for the attempted assassination of former President Trump."
"The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop," stated Garland.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Bureau was "continuing our investigation into this alleged plot and will use the full weight and resources of the FBI to uncover and provide as much information as possible about what led to the events in West Palm Beach."
"In our country, we have to hold accountable people who resort to violence," he added.
On Sept. 15, an armed Routh allegedly got between 300 and 500 yards from Trump when the presidential hopeful was at the Trump International Golf Club in Florida.
A Secret Service agent spotted the attempted shooter and opened fire. Routh reportedly fled the golf course but was eventually apprehended by authorities shortly after the incident.
According to court documents published on Monday, Routh had allegedly written a letter before his attempt on Trump's life addressing "the world," in which he said, "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," read the handwritten letter. "Everyone across the globe from the youngest to the oldest know that Trump is unfit to be anything, much less a U.S. president."
U.S. Magistrate Judge Ryon M. McCabe of the Federal District Court in West Palm Beach, Florida, granted a request on Monday to keep Routh in jail without bond, reported The New York Times.
In July, Thomas Crooks, 20, attempted to kill Trump at a rally held in Butler, Pennsylvania, wounding the former president and killing another event attendee before he was shot dead by a Secret Service counter-sniper.
Last month, Ronald Lee Syvrud, a 66-year-old resident of Benson, Arizona, was arrested for allegedly posting messages to social media threatening to kill Trump. Authorities had been in the process of apprehending Syvrud in Cochise County when Trump arrived there to deliver remarks.
