Photo: Getty Images
Ryan Wesley Routh, the suspect accused of targeting former President Donald Trump during an assassination attempt at his West Palm Beach golf course, wrote a chilling note stating his intention to kill him months before the incident took place, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday (September 23) via the New York Post.
Routh, 58, penned the note addressed "Dear World," and dropped it in an unnamed person's mailbox before the unsuccessful assassination attempt at the Trump International Golf Club on September 15, according to a court filing.
“This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you,” the letter, which was released in a detention memo filed Monday, states. “I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster. It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job.”
The person reportedly opened their mailbox and discovered the note only after Routh's arrest. The box reportedly contained “ammunition, a metal pipe, miscellaneous building materials, tools, four phones,” as well as multiple other letters, though it wasn't immediately clear if Routh wrote the note believing his September 15 assassination attempt would be unsuccessful or if he was referencing a previous failed attempt.
Routh also accused Trump of having "ended relations with Iran like a child and now the Middle East has unraveled" in the letter. The suspect is reported to have frequently posted about politics online, donated to Democratic candidates and causes since 2019, and had a Biden-Harris bumper sticker on the back of a pickup truck parked at his Kaaawa, Hawaii, home, the New York Post reported.
Trump confirmed that "there were gunshots in my vicinity" but noted that he was "SAFE AND WELL" in a campaign alert to his supporters shortly after initial reports. The incident took place two months after Trump was targeted in an assassination attempt during his rally in Pennsylvania.
Trump's right ear was grazed during the inital shooting and he was seen yelling "fight" to his supporters while being evacuated from the rally by Secret Service members. One spectator, identified as Corey Comperatore, 50, was killed during the incident while two others, David Dutch, 57, of New Kensington, and James Copenhaver, 74, were initially critically wounded but later upgraded to stable condition.
The shooter, Thomas Crooks, was taken out by Secret Service agents within seconds from opening fire, though also reported to be on officials' radar as a suspicious person more than 90 minutes before opening fire. Trump officially accepted the Republican presidential nomination during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 18.