According to multiple U.S. media reports, a 58-year-old suspect who inserted the barrel of an AK-47 rifle into the fence of former U.S. President Trump's golf club and seemed to be plotting against Trump was arrested by U.S. law enforcement officials and more information about him has been disclosed by the media.
According to the American Fox News Network, the suspect's name is Ryan Wesley Routh. He was born and raised in North Carolina, USA, and now lives in Hawaii, USA.
Fox News and NBC also reported that Rouse has had multiple criminal records since the 1990s, including drug possession, driving without a license, driving an uninsured motor vehicle, etc. He was also convicted in 2002 of illegally possessing an automatic machine gun. He was even chased by the police on the highway because of this matter, and then confronted the police in the office of his construction company. The machine gun was deemed by the court to be a "weapon of mass destruction."
Fox News said Rouse later moved to Hawaii in 2017 and reopened a construction company there. Rouse once said on his social media account that his company built houses for homeless people.
CNN reported that Rouse also commented on the matter in a post after Trump was first assassinated in July this year. He said in a post at the time that he believed that US President Biden and Vice President Harris should visit the people who were injured and killed in the assassination, because he believed that Trump would definitely not care about the lives of those people.
CNN also stated that Rouse’s son said in an interview with the media that his father was not the kind of person who would do crazy things and be violent. Rouse's son said his father was a "loving, caring, honest and hard-working" man who was a "good father and great man" and hoped the media would report his case "truly."
Many American media said that Rouse's behavior has attracted official condemnation from the United States. U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas said he condemns violence against U.S. officials and presidential candidates. U.S. President Joe Biden said he condemned political violence and all acts of violence and said he was "relieved" that Trump was not harmed.