Who is Ryan Routh? A Greensboro man is charged in the attempted assassination of Trump

A North Carolina man found himself in custody Sunday after the Secret Service’s advance team noticed a barrel of a gun sticking through a fence at the hole where former President Donald Trump was about to play golf.

The Secret Service fired at the would-be-shooter, but he got away. That is, until a witness said he took photos of both the suspect’s vehicle and license plate.

That led to the arrest of 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, a Greensboro man with a second address in Hawaii.

Routh now faces charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, the Miami Herald reported, with more serious charges likely on the way. He appeared in court Monday morning in Florida.

Here’s what we’ve been able to find out so far about Routh.

Who is Ryan Routh?

Routh spent decades in North Carolina, according to public records.

He first registered to vote in the state in 1988.

In 1990, he registered his company, Routh Roofing, with the North Carolina Secretary of State’s office.

In 1995, he enrolled at N.C. A&T State University to study mechanical engineering, according to his LinkedIn profile.

In 1997, he registered United Roofing, United Finance Leasing, The United Production Group and United Network with the Secretary of State’s office.

Around 1999, Routh had a son, who he told a judge in court Monday morning he sometimes supports, the Miami Herald reported.

In 2015, he registered United Roofing and Construction with the Secretary of State’s office.

A background search conducted by The News & Observer shows that Routh purchased a home in Hawaii in 2018, but neighbors told WGHP he did not move there until May of this year.

Throughout all of this, eCourts, an online record of court cases in North Carolina, showed more than 200 cases involving Routh. Those included lawsuits involving his companies, IRS investigations and charges involving writing worthless checks and infractions with his vehicles. Many were dismissed.

But one notable case, in 2002, stands out.

Criminal record

At 36 years old, Routh was pulled over in a traffic stop by the Greensboro Police Department. The incident was documented by The News & Record in Greensboro.

The newspaper reported Routh made it clear he had a gun in the vehicle and drove to his business, United Roofing, on West Lee Street.

There he barricaded himself inside with a fully automatic machine gun.

It would be three hours before police arrested him.

Routh was convicted of felony possession of a weapon of mass destruction and several misdemeanors: three counts of carrying a concealed weapon; hit and run; resisting an officer; and five counts of driving while license revoked.

In 2010, he would be convicted four more times for possession of stolen goods; three of those convictions are felonies.

All of his convictions resulted in a suspended sentence and probation from the judge.

Political views

Starting in 1988, Routh registered as an unaffiliated voter. He at one point was taken out of the voter rolls, but re-registered in 2012.

That means, under North Carolina law, he can choose whether to vote in the Republican or Democratic primary. But Routh only took advantage of that once, in 2024, when he voted in the Democratic primary.

Otherwise, Routh stuck to voting in general and municipal elections.

Multiple news outlets, including CNN, reported that Routh said he voted for Trump in 2016, citing his social media pages, before those were taken offline.

In June 2020, Routh wrote on social media he was “disappointed” in Trump and would “be glad” when Trump is gone, CNN reported.

Screenshots of Routh’s social media activity posted online showed Routh’s more recent political allegiances.

ABC reported that in 2020, he supported Sen. Bernie Sanders and then-Rep. Tulsi Gabbard for president. Both ran for the Democratic nomination for president that year.

The network also found that in 2024, he supported Vivek Ramaswamy for president, a Republican candidate.

Routh has also been outspoken on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Helping Ukraine

Routh was interviewed by The New York Times, Semafor and Newsweek Romania, claiming that he was helping to recruit citizen volunteers to fight Russia on behalf of Ukraine.

“If governments won’t send their official military, then we civilians have to pick up the torch and make this happen,” Routh told Newsweek.

A GoFundMe page set up, in 2022, by a woman who said she was Routh’s fiance said he traveled to Kyiv in April 2022 and planned to stay for 90 days. She said he had sent 120 drones to the front lines and donated tactical gear to soldiers.

They raised $1,865 of $2,500 they were trying to collect.

GoFundMe has removed the page since Routh’s arrest.

Routh told the New York Times he was recruiting “Afghan soldiers who fled the Taliban.”

But in 2023, Routh complained to Semafor that Ukraine is “often hard to work with” and Ukraine was wary of the Afghan soldiers.