The man suspected of carrying out an assassination attempt on Donald Trump was carrying a GoPro camera.
The FBI released a photo of the items left behind by the would-be assassin after he fled the scene at the Trump-owned West Palm Beach golf club in Florida on Sunday.
Ryan Wesley Routh is now in custody after U.S. Secret Service agents noticed the muzzle of an AK-47-style rifle sticking through the bushes of the golf course and fired at Routh. He reportedly dropped the gun and fled into an SUV leaving the firearm behind along with a scope for aiming, two backpacks, and the GoPro camera.
Analysts immediately began speculating whether Routh was planning to film the attack; even raising the possibility of whether he was intending to livestream it.
The photo of the GoPro handed out by the FBI isn’t good enough to make out which model it is but GoPros have had livestream capabilities since the GoPro HERO7 was released back in 2018.
A Second Trump Assassination Attempt in as Many Months
Routh is reportedly 58 years old, from Hawaii, and was working as a construction worker in North Carolina. His social media has not been scrubbed; his online profiles showing an apparent keen interest in global politics.
This is the second attempt on Trump’s life after the first one just nine weeks ago when Thomas Crooks shot at Trump during a rally in Pennsylvania killing a member of the crowd before being shot dead himself by the Secret Service. Trump escaped with just a bloody ear.
Photographers were gathered close to Trump in Pennsylvania with one New York Times staffer even capturing a photo of the bullet whizzing past him.
A remarkable photo captured by my former White House Press Corps colleague Doug Mills.
Zoom in right above President Trump’s shoulder and you’ll see a bullet flying in the air to the right of President Trump’s head following an attempted assassination. pic.twitter.com/FqmLBCytoW
— Haraz N. Ghanbari (@HarazGhanbari) July 14, 2024
Associated Press photographer Evan Vucci captured an iconic photo of Trump with his hand raised after surviving his first assassination attempt.
This is a developing story…