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The man arrested last week in an apparent assassination attempt on the life of former President Donald Trump wrote in a letter of his plans, prosecutors said in a court filing today.
Several months ago, the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, had dropped off a box at an unidentified witness’ home that included a letter. In the letter, addressed “Dear World,” Routh wrote “This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but 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.”
Apparently referring to Trump, Routh added, “He ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled.”
The witness had contacted law enforcement on Sept. 18, three days after the incident at Trump International, to inform then of the box. It also included ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones, according to prosecutors.
A Secret Service agent doing advance as Trump played a round of golf spotted “a long black object protruding through the fence and realized the object was the barrel of a rifle aimed directly at him,” according to prosecutors.
The agent then jumped out of his golf cart, “drew his weapon, and began backing away. The Agent saw the rifle barrel move, and the Agent fired at Routh.”
“The Agent took cover behind a tree and reloaded his weapon, then looked up and saw that ROUTH was gone,” prosecutors said. “The Agent called out over his radio that shots had been fired by the Agent and that there was a subject with a rifle.”
Prosecutors said that Routh fled in a black Nissan Xterra, but was apprehended in nearby Martin County.
Routh has so far been charged with two gun offenses. He is scheduled to appear in court today for a pretrial detention hearing.
