On September 15, 2024, Donald Trump, then a former president of the United States and nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, survived an assassination attempt by 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, a roofer and Russo-Ukrainian war activist, while golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida. Routh was motivated to assassinate Trump to prevent him from being elected. The incident occurred two months after Trump survived a previous assassination attempt while speaking at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
That day, Routh, who had been planning the attack for months, was spotted hiding in shrubbery holding an SKS rifle just outside the fence of the golf course. After hiding there for nearly 12 hours, Routh pointed his weapon through the fence line, approximately 400 yards (370 m) away from Trump. A Secret Service agent noticed this and fired four rounds towards Routh, who then fled the scene and was later captured in Martin County via a traffic stop. Two conspirators who helped Routh obtain the rifle were also later arrested and charged.
Routh was indicted on a total of five federal charges and three state charges, all of which Routh pleaded not guilty to. In July 2025, Routh chose to fire his public defenders and represent himself. His trial began on September 8, 2025. Two weeks later on September 23, he was found guilty on all five federal counts. While the verdict was being read in the courtroom, Routh grabbed a pen and repeatedly attempted to stab himself in the neck, before being tackled by U.S. marshals. On February 4, 2026, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 7 years.
Background
Trump International Golf Club had been noted as a potential target for attempts on Trump's life. Officials told Trump that if photographers could get a clear view of him, potential gunmen could do the same. The incident occurred 64 days after a previous assassination attempt on Trump at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania, in which he was shot and wounded in his upper right ear by a 20-year-old sniper, Thomas Crooks. Law enforcement officials said that the golf course's perimeter was not fully secured as Trump was not an incumbent president. The Secret Service did not search the perimeter of the golf course, as Trump's visit there was not a scheduled event.
On September 12, Trump posted on X (formerly Twitter) about a planned event at his golf club on September 16 to introduce the crypto platform World Liberty Financial.
Incident
On September 15, 2024, Trump was golfing at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach with his friend and donor Steve Witkoff. Trump was walking along the fifth hole when Robert Fercano, a Secret Service agent, conducted a sweep of the sixth hole ahead of him for any threats. During the sweep, Routh was seen aiming a rifle at Fercano while hiding in shrubs approximately 400 yards (370 m) away. The position in which Routh had been is well-known as a spot frequently used by paparazzi to photograph Trump at his golf course. At 1:31 p.m. EDT (approximately 12 hours after Routh's 1:59 a.m. arrival), Fercano, having seen the rifle barrel move, fired four rounds towards Routh, who then dropped his weapon and fled in a vehicle. After the shot was fired, Trump was escorted off the course by his Secret Service protective detail. Routh did not have a clear line of sight on Trump and did not fire his gun. Tommy Craig McGee, a witness who was driving to a nearby furniture store at the time of the incident, saw him running out of the woods and into a black car. He quickly took three photos and a video of Routh's vehicle, assisting authorities in tracking it down. The golf course was locked down shortly after the incident, and no injuries were reported.
After Routh fled the scene, a "be on the lookout" was issued to law enforcement with details about the suspect's car, a black Nissan Xterra SUV. At 2:22 p.m, after pulling over the vehicle on Interstate 95 in Martin County, Martin County Sheriff's Office deputies Nicholas Shaw and Gedeon Brenovil forced Routh out of the car and arrested him at gunpoint. According to the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, Routh was detained as a person of interest while he was driving northbound on Interstate 95 from Palm Beach County. The sheriff's units "waited [for] a while" to stop the vehicle to avoid engaging in a high-speed chase. Seventeen burner cell-phones were found inside Routh's vehicle. An SKS-style rifle with a removed serial number, a scope, two backpacks containing ceramic tiles that could deflect a bullet, a plastic bag containing food, and a GoPro camera, were recovered at the scene. Routh was unarmed at the time of his arrest.
After Routh's arrest, Trump contacted the Martin County Sheriff's Office and requested that those involved in Routh's apprehension join him at Mar-a-Lago so he could personally thank them for their work. Each deputy signed a pair of black handcuffs and gave them to Trump. Lieutenant Travis Dykes stated that there could have been a "potential disaster" if the police department didn't work together as a group. Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told WPTV that he "could not be more proud of his crew."
Perpetrator
Ryan Wesley Routh was born on February 18, 1966, in Guilford County, North Carolina, to Daniel Wesley Routh (June 30, 1938 - December 11, 2021) and Marjorie Patton Fearing (born 1938). He had graduated from Northwest Guilford High School in 1984. He began attending the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1988, however he dropped out in 1990. In 1995, Routh attended North Carolina A&T State University for two semesters, however he dropped out later that year before finishing any degree program. In the early 1990's, Routh opened a roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina called United Roofing. He abandoned the business in the early 2000's.
In January 1989, Routh married Lora Frances Wilson, and had two sons and a daughter. They divorced in 2003. Routh's daughter and youngest son, Sara Ellen Routh and Adam A. Routh, lived with him full time after the divorce, while his eldest son, Oran Alexander Routh, lived with Lora full time. In 2018, he moved to Kaʻaʻawa, Hawaii with his fiancé and his daughter and youngest son, and they started a shed-building business together called Camp Box Honolulu. Routh and his eldest son, Oran, had had a falling out and had not talked prior to the assassination attempt, although following the attempt Oran said that his father was "a loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man" and that "it doesn't sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent".
Routh had a history of political activity online and offline, with his political engagement dating back to at least 1989, where he registered as a Democrat. He registered as an independent in 2012. Voting records showed that he did not vote in the 2016 elections, but in a 2020 Twitter post, he claimed to have voted for Trump in 2016 and later regretted it. In a self-published ebook in 2023, he wrote about his supposed previous support for Trump, saying, "I am man enough to say that I misjudged and made a terrible mistake." He reached out to Iran in his book, saying they should feel free to assassinate Trump for the United States withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as well as Routh himself for supporting Trump in the past. Routh condemned the January 6 Capitol attack as being "perpetrated by Donald Trump and his undemocratic posse". After his disillusionment with Trump, Routh announced his support for various presidential opponents of Trump, including both Democratic and Republican presidential candidates. Additionally, Routh donated $140 to Democratic causes since 2019. He voted in North Carolina's Democratic primary elections in 2024.
Routh had a lengthy criminal record prior to the assassination attempt, ranging from 1984 to 2016. During that timeframe, Routh had been convicted of over a hundred criminal counts of various crimes, and had been arrested at least eight times. Routh typically received parole or probation for all these offenses, with no record of time that he was in prison. He roughly had one hundred encounters with local law enforcement, according to a retired Greensboro police officer who Routh knew by name. Throughout his career, Routh had been ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to plaintiffs related to more than 200 civil lawsuits.
Routh claimed on his social media accounts, as well as in 2022 interviews with The New York Times, Newsweek Romania, and Der Tagesspiegel to have made efforts to recruit foreign soldiers for Ukraine in its war against Russia. Newsweek reported Routh had claimed to have fought in Ukraine, while he told The New York Times he did not fight in Ukraine. Routh said in a 2022 interview with a Romanian reporter in Kyiv that he flew to Ukraine to join the army in the months after Russia's full-scale invasion, but learned that he was "not an ideal candidate" for the battlefield because he was in his mid-50s with no military experience. Later in 2022, Routh said in an interview that after he was rejected for military service, he began recruiting volunteer soldiers for the Ukrainian military. Routh complained of roadblocks to Ukraine admitting foreign fighters, telling the publication Semafor that "Ukraine is very often hard to work with, they're afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy". Routh was filmed at an April 2022 protest in Independence Square in Kyiv.
A former volunteer for Ukraine's International Legion, Evelyn Aschenbrenner, branded Routh as "delusional" and a "liar" over his claims that he recruited for the Ukrainian organization, saying Routh was "not, and never has been, associated with the International Legion or the Ukrainian Armed Forces at all". Aschenbrenner said of Routh "He was combative. He was argumentative. He refused repeatedly to understand basic army policy", further adding "There was delusions of grandeur and [he was] very disconnected from reality". The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine said in a statement that Routh had "never been part of, associated with, or linked" to it "in any capacity."
Chelsea Walsh, a travel nurse who had met Routh in Ukraine, viewed Routh as "a threat to others" and a "ticking time bomb", and warned a Homeland Security agent upon her return from Ukraine. She claimed that Routh decided to dedicate his life to protecting Ukraine upon first hearing about the war in 2022, and that he would become "vengeful" and "angry" if he did not get his way. Sometime in 2023, Walsh ultimately reported Routh to the FBI for his behavior. Routh had also claimed to her to have organized a protest outside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's home and was jailed for it, although this was not confirmed. Walsh repeated her concerns to both the FBI and Interpol.
In November 2023, Routh arrived back in Hawaii.
Investigation
After being arrested as the potential suspect, Routh was charged with two offenses: possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with the serial number removed. Less than a day after the arrest, he was seen smiling and laughing with his lawyer. Footage of his arrest was released to the public. Routh was charged on September 24 with attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate, as well as assaulting a federal officer and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence.
Lazaro and Samuel Plata, two brothers who were former employees of Routh, contacted law enforcement on September 18, stating that Routh had dropped off a box containing a 12-page letter at their house in April 2024, several months before the incident. The two opened the box after the incident. Improvised destructive device components, burner cellphones, and .50 caliber ammunition was recovered from the box. Earlier that same day, on September 18, Routh was transferred to Miami's Federal Detention Center. On September 23, 2024, the Department of Justice publicized the first page of the letter; it stated:
Dear World, this was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I am so sorry I failed you. 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. 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 presidents must at bare minimum embody the moral fabric that is America and be kind, caring and selfless and always stand for humanity. Trump fails to understand any of-
According to authorities, the letter indicated that Routh may have planned the assassination attempt as early as February 2024, and simultaneously acknowledged months in advance that he might fail.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation led the investigation of the incident, along with the United States Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. The FBI treated the incident as an attempted assassination. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis pledged to open a state-level investigation into the incident.
On the day of the incident, Routh's motive was described as unknown. Shortly after the incident, law enforcement linked the license plates for the Nissan Xterra used by Routh to a 2012 Ford truck that was reported as stolen. McGee identified Routh after he was taken into custody. Data from his cell phone showed that he had arrived at the golf course at 1:59 a.m., where he had waited for roughly 12 hours.