Ryan Wesley Routh (born February 18, 1966) is an American former roofer who attempted to assassinate then-former U.S. President Donald Trump on September 15, 2024. Routh was attempting to assassinate Trump to prevent him from winning the 2024 presidential election. The incident occurred two months after Trump survived a previous assassination attempt while speaking at a campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
On September 15, 2024 at 1:59 AM EDT, just outside the fence of Trump's Florida golf course, Routh hid in shrubbery holding an SKS-style rifle. At 1:31 PM, Routh pointed his weapon through the fence line, approximately 400 yards (350 meters) from Trump. A Secret Service agent noticed this and fired four rounds towards Routh, who fled and was later captured in Martin County.
Routh was indicted on a total of five federal charges, including attempting to assassinate a presidential candidate. Florida added three state charges, including attempted felony murder. Routh pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Two conspirators who helped Routh obtain the rifle were arrested and charged. In July 2025, Routh chose to fire his public defenders and represent himself. His trial began on September 8, 2025. Two weeks later, on September 23, he was found guilty on all five federal counts. While the verdict was being read in the courtroom, Routh grabbed a pen and attempted to stab himself in the neck. He was instead tackled by marshals. On February 4, 2026, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Ryan Wesley Routh was born on February 18, 1966, in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he was a resident for most of his life. He has a sister named Nancy Meyers (née Routh). He attended Guilford Junior High School (now Guilford Middle School) in the late 1970's. He earned an Eagle Scout award in 1980. He attended Northwest Guilford High School where he graduated in 1984. However, on Facebook, Routh claimed to have graduated from Grimsley High School. A former classmate of his said that Routh was social and had school friends, but he was not popular. He enrolled at University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 1988, then dropped out in 1990. In 1995, Routh attended North Carolina A&T State University for two semesters, dropping out before finishing a degree program.
In January 1989, Routh married Lora Frances Wilson, with whom he had two sons and a daughter. Routh's former Greensboro neighbors saw Routh and his family as "weird" and "potentially dangerous". In the early 1990s, Routh opened a roofing business called United Roofing, hiring 90 employees. He abandoned the business in the early 2000's. Routh divorced Lora on March 10, 2003. Routh's daughter and youngest son lived with him full time after the divorce, while his eldest son lived with Lora full time. Routh tried to get a skate park built near Greensboro in the mid 2000's.
On April 2, 1991, Routh chased Terrance Bryant, a suspected rapist, around an office building. Bryant was wanted for a string of burglaries, assaults and robberies in both Greensboro and New York. Bryant was arrested that evening and is serving a life sentence. For confronting Bryant, Routh was honored as a "super citizen" and awarded a "Law Enforcement Oscar" by the Greensboro chapter of the International Union of Police Associations.
In 2018, Routh moved to Kaʻaʻawa, Hawaii with his fiancé, Kathleen Elizabeth Shaffer, and his daughter and youngest son. There, they started a shed-building business called Camp Box Honolulu. Routh and his eldest son had a falling out and had not talked prior to the assassination attempt, although afterwards he said that Routh was "a loving and caring father, and honest, hardworking man" and that "it doesn't sound like the man I know to do anything crazy, much less violent."
Routh had a lengthy criminal record, spanning from 1984 to 2016. Routh had been convicted of over a hundred criminal offenses, and had been arrested at least eight times. Routh typically received parole or probation for these offenses, with no prison time. Routh had further been ordered to pay tens of thousands of dollars to plaintiffs related to more than 200 civil lawsuits.
In 1984, Routh was charged for failing to report an accident. Throughout the 1990s, he was charged multiple times for tax delinquencies and fraud. In 1997, Routh was charged with larceny after he was caught stealing.
On December 15, 2002, Routh was pulled over for driving with a revoked license, after his license was revoked in November 2001. He then put his hand on a machine gun he had with him, alarming the officer, before driving to his place of business, where he barricaded himself inside. After a three-hour stand-off, Routh surrendered and was convicted for possessing an illegal weapon, possessing a firearm, resisting, delaying, and obstructing a law enforcement officer, and driving with a revoked license. Routh pleaded guilty to all charges, and was sentenced to sixty months' probation. He surrendered his weapons to the police who destroyed them. Routh agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation and accept recommended treatments. Soon after, he was arrested for threatening to blow up the police department. After the assassination attempt, the officer who initially pulled over Routh stated; "I figured he was either dead or in prison by now. I had no clue that he had moved on and was continuing his escapades."
In 2003, he was convicted for driving without a license, carrying a concealed weapon and involvement in a hit and run crash. On February 10, 2010, Routh was convicted of possessing stolen goods after Greensboro police searched three warehouses Routh owned and found more than 100 stolen tools, building materials, and other items from sites where he worked as a roofer. He was again sentenced to probation. In 2014, Routh was arrested for failing to appear in court.
In 2019, Routh was subject to an investigation over a tip to the FBI alleging that he was in possession of a firearm. Later that same year, he was removed from a property for allegedly squatting. In 2021, Routh called the police on a resident of a property where he was working, claiming the resident had punched him in the nose.
Claimed activities related to Ukraine
Routh claimed on his social media accounts and in 2022 interviews to have made efforts to recruit foreign soldiers for Ukraine in its war against Russia. At various times Routh claimed to have fought and to have not fought in Ukraine. Routh claimed that he flew to Ukraine to join the army after Russia's 2022 invasion, but learned that he was "not an ideal candidate" because he was in his mid-50s with no military experience. Later in 2022, Routh said that after his rejection, he began recruiting volunteers for the Ukrainian military. Routh complained of roadblocks to Ukraine admitting foreign fighters, stating, "Ukraine is very often hard to work with, they're afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy". Routh was filmed at an April 2022 protest in Kyiv. Routh was reported in 2022 and 2023 to have been associated with the International Volunteer Center, a Lviv-based non-profit assisting foreign fighters. In 2024, after the assassination attempt, the group's founder, Ian Netupsky, said that Routh had never been affiliated with the organization.
A former volunteer for Ukraine's International Legion, Evelyn Aschenbrenner, branded Routh as "delusional" and a "liar" over his claims that he recruited for the Ukrainian organization, saying Routh was "not, and never has been, associated with the International Legion or the Ukrainian Armed Forces". Aschenbrenner said of Routh, "He was combative. He was argumentative. He refused repeatedly to understand basic army policy", adding, "There was delusions of grandeur and [he was] very disconnected from reality." The International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine said in a statement that Routh had "never been part of, associated with, or linked" to it.
Chelsea Walsh, a travel nurse who had met Routh in Ukraine, described Routh as "a threat to others" and a "ticking time bomb", and notified a Homeland Security agent upon her return from Ukraine. She claimed that Routh decided to dedicate his life to protecting Ukraine upon first hearing about the war in 2022, and that he would become "vengeful" and "angry" if he did not get his way. Sometime in 2023, Walsh reported Routh to the FBI. Routh claimed to her to have organized a protest outside President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's home and that he was jailed for it. Walsh repeated her concerns to the FBI and Interpol. In November 2023, Routh returned to Hawaii.