Who is Ryan Routh, Ukraine supporter arrested for shooting at Trump in Florida

Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old Democrat supporter, was arrested on Sunday after what the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) called an “apparent assassination attempt” against Republican candidate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course.
In an earlier interview, Routh had also claimed to be a strong supporter of Ukraine, and stated that he travelled to Kyiv to fight in the ongoing war against Russia.
Authorities recovered an AK-47-style assault rifle, a scope, two backpacks, and a GoPro device at the scene, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw confirmed during a news conference. Officials stated that the gunman was approximately 300 to 500 yards (275 to 450 meters) away from Trump at the time of the incident.
The incident occurred just two months after an earlier assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, where former President Trump was shot in the ear during a campaign rally.
Routh, a North Carolina resident with an extensive criminal record, has been vocal about politics and has consistently supported Ukraine, Democratic candidates and causes since 2019.
Earlier, in one of the interviews, Routh claimed that he initially went to Ukraine at the start of the war with Russia to “fight” to support the Ukrainians. He stated that after reaching Kyiv he helped in recruiting people to participate in the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We need everyone here fighting… that’s why I’m in Kyiv, so every project that I promote is about getting people here to support the Ukrainians,” he stated.
Last year, in an interview with The New York Times, Routh claimed that he was seeking to recruit Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban to fight in a Ukrainian war against Russia. He went on to say that he planned to move them, in some cases illegally, from Pakistan and Iran to Ukraine.
“We can probably purchase some passports through Pakistan since it’s such a corrupt country,” he was quoted by the New York Times in its report.
He attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and later relocated to Hawaii around 2018, according to media reports.
The 58-year-old was reportedly a supporter of both Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley in the upcoming elections before they decided to drop out.
In one of his posts, he urged them to not drop their names from the 2024 presidential race: “You cannot quit. Why? You must stay on the ballot until the end. You must fight. Keep giving speeches and push all the way to Election Day, no matter the outcome. Do not give in. Join Nikki and keep working. Never give up,” he wrote, encouraging the former presidential candidate.
In a post on X from April 22, he slammed Trump, emphasising, “Democracy is on the ballot, and we cannot afford to lose,” a similar slogan commonly used by President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Routh, in his social media post, urged President Biden, 81, who was then running for reelection, to centre his campaign on preserving “America’s democracy and freedom.” He accused Donald Trump of seeking to “enslave Americans under a master.”
“We cannot afford to fail,” Routh continued. “The world is counting on us to show the way.”
Speaking with CNN, Ryan’s son expressed hope that the situation has been “blown out of proportion,” saying that it’s unlike his father “to do anything crazy or violent.”
Oran Routh, son of Ryan Routh, described his father as loving, caring, and hardworking.
“Ryan is my father, and I don’t have any comment beyond a character profile of him as a loving and caring father and an honest, hardworking man. I don’t know what’s happened in Florida, and I hope things have just been blown out of proportion, because from the little I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent. He’s a good father and a great man, and I hope you can portray him in an honest light,” Oran Routh said.