Prosecutors announced that they intend to seek an assassination attempt charge against the suspected gunman who allegedly attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump.
Ryan Wesley Routh was charged with possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and with possessing a firearm that had an obliterated serial number on September 16, a day after he was apprehended after he had allegedly been hiding in the bushes near Trump International Golf Course West Palm Beach, where Trump had been playing golf.
Bodycam Footage: Alleged Would-Be Trump Assassin Arrested
Martin County Sheriff’s Office / FacebookRouth faces up to 15 years in prison for the first offense brought against him, according to the New York Post.
Prosecutors, on Monday, announced that they were seeking to hit Routh with an assassination attempt charge, according to ABC News. The prosecutors revealed that they had “new details” in their investigation that showed there was “probably cause to support additional charges” that the court “can and should” consider, according to the outlet.
One of the prosecutors, Assistant United States Attorney Mark Dispoto, explained that the U.S. was ready to request that a grand jury “consider a charge that the defendant attempted to assassinate Trump.”
Routh was denied bail by the federal judge, who ruled that the suspect would remain detained until “the resolution of the charges.”
The suspect reportedly had “a list” of the “venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to be” between August and October:
Routh possessed a list that included dates from August to October of venues where Trump had appeared or was expected to be — and is suspected to have traveled near the golf course and Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort multiple times in the month leading up to his arrest, prosecutors said in a detention filing.
This comes as the Department of Justice (DOJ) reportedly received a letter through a witness, in which Routh allegedly apologized for failing to assassinate Trump and offered $150,000 to anyone who could successfully carry out the job.
The alleged assassination attempt against Trump came after Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly opened fire from the rooftop of a nearby building during Trump’s rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13. Trump was shot by a “bullet that pierced the upper part” of his right ear.
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