Cellphone data uncovers would-be assassin's disturbing determination to attack Trump — until Secret Service opened fire

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Alleged would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh was located along the fence line where he made his sniper’s nest nearly 12 hours before a Secret Service agent fired at him from inside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Fla., a criminal complaint said.

Routh, 58, a native of Greensboro, N.C., who has also lived in Kaaawa, Hawaii, was charged in a federal criminal complaint with single counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. Those charges carry potential prison time of 15 and five years, respectively.

Routh made a 10-minute appearance in federal court in West Palm Beach, where charges were read to him. An arraignment is scheduled for Sept. 30. A detention hearing will be held Sept. 23, according to the court docket.

The FBI is investigating the incident as the second attempted assassination of former President Donald J. Trump since July 13.

A probable-cause affidavit filed by the FBI said Routh first appeared along the fence line outside Trump International at 1:59 a.m. Sept. 15, based on geolocation data from Routh’s T-Mobile cell phone. He left that location at 1:31 p.m. when the Secret Service fired in his direction after an agent spotted a rifle poking out of the chain-link fence, the complaint said.

Routh fled the scene, leaving behind an SKS-style 7.62x39 caliber rifle, a GoPro camera, backpacks containing anti-ballistic plates, and a plastic bag filled with food, police said.

A witness saw Routh run away from the fence line and get into a Nissan SUV, which left the area at a high rate of speed, the criminal complaint said. The vehicle had license plates belonging to a stolen white 2012 Ford truck.

Officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the Martin County Sheriff’s Office located the Nissan traveling north on I-95 and initiated a traffic stop at 2:14 p.m., the criminal complaint said.

“Routh was asked if he knew why he was being stopped; he responded in the affirmative,” wrote Special Agent Mark A. Thomas of the FBI’s West Palm Beach Resident Agency.

Routh was convicted in December 2002 on a North Carolina charge of possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction, a Class F felony. Police have said the weapon in question was a fully automatic machine gun.

Man with gun barricades self inside business www.newspapers.com

Greensboro Police stopped Routh about 10 p.m. on Dec. 15, 2002, for a traffic violation. Police said he put his hand on a firearm before driving away and barricading himself at United Roofing. Routh was arrested after a three-hour standoff, according to a Dec. 17, 2002, article in the Greensboro News & Record.

In March 2010, Routh was convicted in North Carolina of multiple felony counts for possession of stolen goods, the FBI said.

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