16 September 2024 , 20:23
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Cops have revealed the dramatic moment that they arrested a suspected gunman in an apparent second attempt to assassinate ex-President Donald Trump.
The suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, was surrounded by sheriff’s deputies on Sunday afternoon on a road about 50 miles from Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Body camera footage shows a sheriff’s deputy yelling: ‘Driver, take two steps to your right. Take two steps to your right. Driver, go straight back. Keep walking.’
Routh, wearing black sunglasses and a pink shirt over his head and exposing his belly, appears in the frame backing up and following directions.
Body camera footage of Ryan Wesley Routh being arrested shows him with his shirt over his head and officials restraining his arms from behind (Picture: Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
Two deputies grab his arms from behind and walk him toward their vehicle.
Other deputies have their guns drawn.
A dog is heard barking at Routh and is restrained.
The footage was released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office shortly after Routh made his initial court appearance on Monday morning.
Ryan Wesley Routh put his shirt over his head as he surrendered to sheriff’s deputies (Picture: Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
The unidentified deputy shouting instructions at Routh was the one who spotted the suspect’s vehicle on Interstate 95 and pulled him over, after a witness snapped a picture, said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
‘If the witness had not seen him, taken a picture of the car, given us the tag… I would say he would be home resting, having a margarita right about now,’ Synder told NBC News of Routh.
Routh seemed not to know that law enforcement had caught on to him.
‘He was just driving with the flow of traffic. Yeah, I think that he may have thought he got away with it,’ Snyder said.
Ryan Wesley Routh was pulled over after a witness sent a picture to law enforcement officials (Picture: Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
‘And he was just going to drive himself back to wherever he came from.’
Snyder raises questions around how the suspected gunman managed to get within several hundred feet from the former president as he golfed at Trump National Golf Club.
‘I think that’s the question the FBI (and) Secret Service are laser focused on today. Is this guy part of a conspiracy? Is he a lone gunman?’ the sheriff said.
‘If he’s a lone gunman, President Trump is that much safer because we have him. But if he’s part of a conspiracy, then this whole thing really takes on a very ominous tone.’
Law enforcement officers prepare to arrest Ryan Wesley Routh, the man suspected in the apparent assassination attempt of ex-President Donald Trump (Picture: AP)
Routh appeared to smile and laugh three to four times as he walked alongside his court-appointed lawyer into a West Palm Beach federal court.
He has been charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
An image of the arrest released just before his court appearance showed Routh appearing calm while sitting in a cop vehicle and looking out.
Trump’s campaign communications director, Steven Cheung, stated following the incident that he was ‘safe following gunshots in his vicinity’.