What We Know About the Accused Gunman

The F.B.I. continues to investigate an apparent attempt to assassinate Donald Trump on Sunday at his golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla. Today’s newsletter rounds up what we’ve learned so far about the suspect and the charges against him, how the episode unfolded and how Trump and others are reacting.

Ryan W. Routh, identified by the authorities as the gunman, wore a blue inmate jumpsuit on Monday to his first court appearance in Florida, less than 24 hours after his arrest. He was charged with two federal gun crimes: possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number, which together carry prison sentences of up to 20 years.

Routh, a 58-year-old former roofing contractor, has a criminal record. According to court documents, he was convicted of a felony in 2002 for “possessing a weapon of mass death and destruction.” A North Carolina newspaper reported at the time that Routh had barricaded himself inside a building with an automatic weapon. The F.B.I. investigated him in 2019 based on a tip that he had a firearm despite being a felon, an official said yesterday, but closed the case after it didn’t receive any more information. The semiautomatic rifle Routh is accused of carrying at Trump’s golf club on Sunday, which the authorities recovered at the scene, had a partly scratched serial number, making its origins harder to trace.

An eight-page federal complaint against Routh says nothing about his potential motive. Routh seems to have spoken positively about candidates in both political parties and described himself online as a disaffected former Trump supporter. In a rambling, 291-page book Routh self-published last year, he accused Trump of threatening American democracy and wrote “you