Ryan Wesley Routh, a North Carolina contractor who cast himself as a selfless volunteer for humanitarian causes, spent years railing on social media about the importance of supporting Ukraine’s war against Russia, and at various politicians who inspired and disappointed him, including Donald Trump.
Years before his path collided with Trump’s on a golf course in Florida on Sunday, Routh had directly addressed the president, telling him on Twitter that he had been his choice in 2016. Routh wrote that he had hoped that once Trump reached the White House, he would be “different and better” than he had been on the campaign trail — but he was disappointed.
In 2022, Routh turned his attention to the war in Ukraine, which seemingly consumed his attention. He went to Kyiv to try and enlist in the army, he said, and when he was turned away, began trying to recruit foreign volunteer soldiers. Ukrainian officials on Monday called Routh’s unsolicited, unofficial efforts “delusional.”
Routh, 58, lived in North Carolina for decades, where he worked as a roofer and contractor, and where he is still registered to vote. Court records there show he has a criminal history that spans several decades, including felony weapons charges and a string of less serious offenses. He lived most recently in Kaaawa, Hawaii, on the island of Oahu.
Federal officials said Routh went to the perimeter of the Florida golf course where Trump was playing and sat in wait for hours with an SKS-style rifle and a scope.
On Monday, the Justice Department charged Routh with possessing a firearm as a felon and possessing a firearm with an obliterated serial number. The charges, both felonies, carry a combined maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a combined maximum fine of $500,000, officials said.
Routh made a 10-minute preliminary appearance Monday in federal court in Miami, shackled at the wrists and ankles and clad in a navy blue custody uniform. He was appointed a public defender, and did not enter a plea.
At about 1:30 p.m. Sunday, a Secret Service agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking out of the treeline on the edge of the course at the Trump International Golf Club, where Trump was playing. Authorities said Routh, the man holding the gun, fled after an agent fired toward him. Trump, who was about 300 to 500 yards away, was not injured.
Federal officials said in court documents that investigators found an SKS-style rifle with a scope, a backpack, a bag containing food, a cellphone and a digital camera in the treeline. The affidavit said the phone was Routh’s, and T-Mobile records showed the device had been “located in the vicinity” of the golf course for nearly 12 hours — since 1:59 a.m.
Routh drew some public attention in 2022 and 2023, when he was interviewed by news outlets from multiple countries about his efforts to help Ukraine. Routh told a Romanian reporter in 2022 that he had recently arrived in Ukraine to join the army. But, he said, he was turned away because he was in his mid-50s with no military experience, and “not an ideal candidate” for the battlefield.
In the interview, which was posted to YouTube, Routh said that after he was rejected for military service, he began recruiting volunteer soldiers for the Ukrainian military.
Routh described how disappointed he had been to learn that not everyone wanted to support the war effort by joining or chipping in a few dollars, saying he was “not sure that the world is as wonderful as I once thought it was.”
“I increasingly get more disappointed in humanity,” Routh said. “I’m beginning to question whether we’re going to end up on the right side of this equation.”
Routh was also quoted last year in a New York Times story about the infighting that hindered Ukraine’s volunteer drive after Russia’s invasion. Routh told the newspaper that he had spent several months in Ukraine in 2022, trying to recruit Afghan soldiers to fight — illegally, if necessary, by buying passports from Pakistan.
On X, Routh’s posts were filled with pleas to major world leaders and celebrities, urging them to help the war effort.
In one, he wrote, “I am willing to fly to Krakow and go to the border of Ukraine to volunteer and fight and die.” In another, he said, “I am an American coming to fight with you in Ukraine; I am flying into Krakow and will take any transport to Kyiv to meet you and fight to the death.”
The Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command said Monday that Routh never served in the Ukrainian army or collaborated with the military in any capacity. For two and a half years, Routh periodically contacted Ukraine’s international legion with “nonsensical ideas,” representative officer Oleksandr Shahuri said.
“His plans and ideas can best be described as delusional,” Shahuri said.
Although Routh had recently lived in Hawaii, he cast a ballot in Guilford County, N.C., in March in the Democratic Party primary and had voted in nearly a dozen elections there over three decades, voting records show. His political party preference was listed as unaffiliated.
Federal records show that Routh’s political contributions came in one election: the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.
Routh made contributions of less than $50 each to the failed Democratic presidential campaigns of Texas politician Beto O’Rourke, California billionaire Tom Steyer, New York universal basic income advocate Andrew Yang and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
On social media, Routh voiced support for Gabbard — who later left the Democratic Party and now supports Trump — as well as Vice President Kamala Harris.
In 2020, Routh directed a Twitter post at Trump, writing that Trump had been his “choice” in 2016, and that he had hoped that “President Trump would be different and better than the candidate.” Instead, Routh wrote, “it seems you are getting worse and devolving,” adding, “I will be glad when you gone.”
This year, Routh wrote on X to Republican presidential challenger Vivek Ramaswamy that he should stay in the race against Trump, join forces with Republican Nikki Haley and “never give up.”
Recent social media posts show that Routh had paid close attention to the attempted assassination on Trump in Butler County, Pa., in July. In one X post to Harris, he wrote: “You and Biden should visit the injured people in the hospital from the Trump rally and attend the funeral of the murdered fireman. Trump will never do anything for them …. show the world what compassion and humanity is all about.”
Routh faced criminal charges in North Carolina spanning several decades.
In 2002, the Greensboro News & Record reported that after being pulled over by police while driving, Routh put his hand on a gun and then barricaded himself inside a roofing company building for three hours. He was charged with carrying a concealed weapon and possessing a “weapon of mass destruction” — a fully automatic machine gun. Routh was later convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction, a felony.
Routh was convicted of multiple counts of possessing stolen goods in 2010, according to court records reviewed by The Times.
Routh moved to a beachfront home in Hawaii around 2018, records show. His LinkedIn profile says he has owned CampBox Honolulu, a company that builds storage units and “tiny houses” to shelter homeless residents.
“As a community, if we can all come together and put our resources together, it would be extremely beneficial,” Routh told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in 2019 after donating a tiny home to a planned village to house homeless people on Oahu. “All of us are tired of seeing the homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go.”
A woman who said she was a neighbor of Routh’s in Kaaawa said he built her trailer that she used to work from, and that he’s a good carpenter. But, she added, “he’s erratic.”
The neighbor, who declined to give her name, cited instances in which he allegedly shot her chickens with “a high-powered pellet gun.” He also opened another neighbor’s gate, she said, and sprayed a water hose at their dog, which he said was barking too loudly.
“I told him to move out of here because we live in the country and that’s what we have, chickens and dogs,” the neighbor said. She added that she learned from Routh’s partner that he left Hawaii about two weeks ago.
Routh’s neighbor said his trip to Ukraine had changed him.
“He came back different,” she said. “That’s when he started to shoot the chickens and the dogs. Before that, he never used to bother.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
