Milton rips through Florida: At least four deaths have been reported from tornadoes spawned by the storm, and over 3 million are without power after the Category 3 Hurricane swept across the state overnight. Read more here.
LOOKING AT AN ACCUSED WOULD-BE ASSASSIN
Who, exactly, is Ryan Routh, the 58-year-old man accused of planning to assassinate former president Donald Trump outside a Florida golf course?
Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Screenshot via NTD, Martin County Sheriff's Office, Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times
A killer, according to travel nurse and humanitarian aid worker Chelsea Walsh, who met Routh overseas.
“The Ryan I know, he definitely would have pulled the trigger without a second thought; I think they got him just in time,” she told The Epoch Times.
Walsh met Routh through international networks assisting Ukraine after the 2022 Russian invasion, and noticed a “progression of red flags.”
She said she dismissed Routh’s “quirkiness” as harmless, at first. Walsh noted that Routh was a busybody, often interfering with matters “that he had no business being involved with.”
Walsh also noted that Routh had a cruel streak, once allegedly kicking a homeless man who begged a bit too insistently. She said he later threatened to burn down a Kyiv music studio that refused to record a song he wrote.
“It’s hard for people to understand this man,” she said, “unless you knew him personally.”
She said she, and others, had alerted authorities more than two years ago that Routh was dangerous.
Walsh grew so concerned about what she called Routh’s erratic, impulsive behavior that she cut short her time in Ukraine.
After returning to the United States in June 2022, Walsh met with an official at the Department of Homeland Security official at Dulles International Airport outside Washington.
The official promised to pass the info about Routh to the relevant parties; Walsh returned to Ukraine in late 2022 and steered clear of Routh.
But after the incident on Sept. 15, 2024, she wished Routh had been taken more seriously.
“As an American citizen, I did my part and handed the information to the proper authorities, who I assumed would be doing their job, because it’s definitely not my job,” she said. “It was their job to contain the threat—and they did not.”
Who is Routh … and Who Was He?
Ryan Routh seemed to have a promising future. He was eagle scout. He helped police catch a rape suspect when he was 25, netting a “Citizen of the Year” award in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina. Routh at 25 was described as “clean-cut,” a young newlywed with a baby.
He had run-ins with the law over writing bad checks, and driving without a license. Then came tax problems, and a series of lawsuits related to his roofing business.
Then in 2002 Routh was charged with possession of a “weapon of mass destruction” after barricading himself in his business with an automatic machine-gun for three hours.
Routh escaped that encounter with a plea deal and probation, but began to deteriorate noticeably, according to retired Greensboro police officer Eric Rasecke.
Rasecke estimated he had “well over 100 contacts” with Routh, dating to 1996. He said Routh became paranoid after the gun incident, and that his house constantly smelt of marijuana.
The Epoch Times talked to more than a half-dozen North Carolinians who live or work near his last known address, a one-story gray house on Hiatt Street, but none said they knew Routh well.
Routh moved to Hawaii six years ago, living as an outsider barely known to his neighbors. He opened a business named Camp Box Honolulu, building “tiny homes.”
Routh’s exact motives leading up to the alleged assassination attempt are unclear, although he wrote a book claiming to have voted for Trump in 2016, and regretting it.
People who knew Routh said he didn’t seem to have much money. How did he afford costly trips from Hawaii to Ukraine, back to Hawaii, then to North Carolina, and later to the Florida golf course.
Authorities haven’t stated where Routh was before he traveled to West Palm Beach to allegedly carry out his alleged plan, but they did acknowledge he had been at the golf course for at least 12 hours prior to Trump’s arrival.
That poses other questions: Why didn’t Trump’s protectors notice him sooner? Did someone tip off Routh about Trump’s previously unscheduled golf outing? If so, what inside connections did Routh possibly have?
Routh is scheduled to stand trial next month, but that date will likely be pushed back as prosecutors have requested more time to examine the evidence.
—Janice Hisle, Savannah Hulsey Pointer, Arjun Singh, Stacy Robinson.
BOOKMARKS
Oklahoma Death Row inmate Richard Eugene Glossip may receive a new trial, after admissions by the state that his prosecution was faulty. The state itself recommended vacating Glossip’s sentence after admitting it withheld evidence from the defense.
Honda is recalling nearly 1.7 million vehicles following reports of steering wheels malfunctioning from lack of lubrication. Although no injuries or fatalities have been reported, a flaw in the manufacturing process sometimes resulted in too much friction, making the wheel feel “sticky.”
More than 270 noncitizens have been struck from South Dakota’s voter rolls, following an election integrity review ahead of Nov. 5. The cleanup operation drew criticism from the local ACLU, which voiced concerns that eligible voters may be removed accidentally.
Aurora, Colorado Mayor Mike Coffman says claims of Venezuelan gangs taking over the city are “grossly exaggerated.” On the contrary, he said the problem is “limited to several apartment complexes.”
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has suspended automatic voter registration at the DMV, following the discovery of 302 more noncitizens invalidly registered. Including the numbers from September, this means that more than 1500 people had been invalidly registered automatically while applying for a driver’s license or ID.
—Stacy Robinson
