Man Who Brings Weapons Near Donald Trump Golf Course Once Written A Murder Plan With A Reward Of 150 Thousand US Dollars
JAKARTA - The man suspected of hiding with a gun near Donald Trump's Florida golf course was revealed to have written a letter a few months earlier describing a "murder attempt" and offering a reward for Trump's life.
Ryan Routh, 58, was charged with two gun crimes after he allegedly pointed a rifle between trees on September 15 when the Republican presidential candidate was playing golf on his golf course at West Palm Beach, according to criminal charges.
Routh is scheduled to attend a hearing scheduled to start at 11 p.m. Monday, September 23 local time, where prosecutors will ask the judge to keep him in prison.
In a court filing released before the trial, prosecutors said months before the incident, Routh sent a handwritten letter addressed to "the world" offering Trump a reward.
"This is an assassination attempt against Donald Trump, but I disappoint you," the suspect wrote, according to a document quoted by Reuters, Monday, September 23.
"I will offer 150,000 US dollars to anyone who can complete the job," continued the perpetrator.
The letter was found in a box handed over by an unidentified civilian witness who also contained ammunition, metal pipe, and four cell phones, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also said that when Routh was arrested, there was a handwritten list in his car which contained a date in August, September and October where Trump would appear or expected to appear.
They said searches on his cell phone records showed the device had sent a message to the tower near Trump International's golf course where the incident occurred and at the Mar-a-Lago resort where Trump lives.
At the time of the incident near the golf course, a US Secret Service agent saw the perpetrator's weapon and shot at Routh.
Routh, who had fled, was later arrested on the Florida highway. US officials said Routh did not open fire on the golf course and did not face Trump, who was several hundred meters away.