GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — The person who is accused of trying to kill President Trump at a golf course in West Palm Beach has a history of crime in North Carolina.
Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, who used to live in Greensboro, was reportedly hiding in bushes on a Trump-owned golf course with an AK-47, a GoPro camera, and other things in what police are calling an attempt to kill Trump. People from the Secret Service shot at the suspect, but they missed. The suspect then drove off from the scene. He was caught when his car was pulled over on I-95.
After living in the Greensboro area for a while, Routh moved to Hawaii sometime this year. People who live nearby say that he and his family moved to Hawaii in May.
He didn’t have a party affiliation, but he did vote in the Democratic primary in Guilford County, according to the data.
Supposedly Routh’s social media posts show that he believed in COVID-19 conspiracy theories. He wrote that he voted for Trump in 2016 but was unhappy with him afterward, and he supported Tulsi Gabbard in different posts.
Records for Routh go all the way back to 2002 at the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections. Based on the News & Record, he locked himself inside a Greensboro shop that year with a gun.
He got jail time in 2003 for driving without a license, having a gun on him, and hit and run. He was found guilty of having stolen goods in 2010.
The DAC website says that he was put on probation for all of these crimes.
eCourts in North Carolina keeps data for charges like “no operator’s license” from as far back as 1997.
The police have not given out any more details about the case.