Ryan Wesley Routh portrayed himself online as a man who built housing for homeless people in Hawaii, tried to recruit fighters for Ukraine to defend itself against Russia, and described his support and then disdain for Donald Trump -- even urging Iran to kill him.
"You are free to assassinate Trump," Routh wrote of Iran in an apparently self-published book in 2023, "Ukraine's Unwinnable War," which described the former president as a "fool" and "buffoon" for both the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot and the "tremendous blunder" of leaving the Iran nuclear deal.
Routh wrote that he once voted for Trump and must take part of the blame for the "child that we elected for our next president that ended up being brainless."
Routh, 58, was arrested Sunday and charged Monday after authorities say he stalked the GOP presidential nominee as he golfed in West Palm Beach, Florida, with an AK-47-style rifle in an apparent assassination attempt thwarted by the Secret Service.
Through his voluminous online footprint, public records, news interviews and videos, a picture emerged of Routh as a man with a criminal past, plenty of outrage and views ranging from the left to the right, including support for Bernie Sanders, Tulsi Gabbard, Nikki Haley and Trump.
Voter records show he registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina in 2012, most recently voting in person during the state's Democratic primary in March.
Routh also made 19 small donations totalling US$140 since 2019 through ActBlue, a political action committee that distributes donations to Democratic candidates, according to federal campaign finance records.
In a tweet in June 2020, after the police killing of George Floyd, Routh said then-president Trump could win reelection by issuing an executive order to prosecute police misconduct. However, in recent years, his posts appear to have soured on Trump, and he expressed support for President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
"DEMOCRACY is on the ballot and we cannot lose," he wrote on X in April in support of Biden.
In July, following the assassination attempt on Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania, a post on Routh's account urged Biden and Harris to visit those wounded in the shooting and attend the funeral of the firefighter who was killed.
"Trump will never do anything for them," Routh wrote.
In his book, listed on Amazon and viewed by the AP, Routh noted: "I get so tired of people asking me if I am a Democrat or Republican as I refuse to be put in a category."
The world would be better if it were run by women, he wrote in the book that has links to his website and X account, because "it seems that the totality of the world's problems revolve around men with massive insecurity and childlike intelligence and behavior."
He posted frequently on social media about Ukraine and other conflicts, and had a website seeking to raise money and recruit volunteers to fight for Kyiv. A photo of the wiry, wild-haired Routh on his site shows him smiling, wearing a T-shirt and jacket adorned with U.S. flags.
"This is about good versus evil," Routh said in a video circulating online. And in a tweet, he said, "I am going to fight and die for Ukraine."
Video shot by the AP showed Routh at a small demonstration in Kyiv's Independence Square in April 2022, two months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of the country.
A placard he was holding said: "We cannot tolerate corruption and evil for another 50+ years. End Russia for our kids."
That same day, he also visited a makeshift memorial to "Foreigners killed by Putin."
But Routh never served in the Ukrainian army or worked with its military, said Oleksandr Shahuri of the Foreigners Coordination Department of the Ukrainian Ground Forces Command.
Shahuri told AP that Routh periodically contacted the International Legion of Ukraine with what he described as "nonsensical ideas" that "can best be described as delusional."
Routh appeared in a video standing in front of the U.S. Capitol and expressing frustration that Ukraine wasn't taking more of the Afghan commandos he tried to recruit.
"They're afraid that anybody and everybody is a Russian spy," he told news website Semafor in 2023.
Earlier this year, he even tweeted at singers Bruno Mars and Dave Matthews to organize a "We are the World"-style effort for Kyiv. "We need an emotional tribute song for Ukraine as support stalls," he wrote. "I have lyrics and music."
Routh also tweeted to former basketball star Dennis Rodman, asking for help lifting sanctions against North Korea to ease tension with the country. In another, he invites a dozen protesters in Hong Kong to stay at his Hawaii home to escape a Chinese crackdown.
Routh lived most of his life in Greensboro, North Carolina, where his run-ins with law enforcement included a 2002 felony conviction for possessing explosives, detonation cord and a blasting cap, according to court records.
The News & Record of Greensboro reported that the arrest came after Routh fled from a traffic stop and held off police for three hours with "a fully automatic machine gun" at a roofing business. State records listed him as the business owner.
Court records show authorities seized the explosives and an undefined number of firearms from Routh. As part of a plea deal, Routh agreed to undergo a mental health evaluation and comply with any treatment recommendations. The documents provided to the AP by the county clerk of court on Monday do not include the results of that evaluation.
Records also show Routh was convicted of a felony count of possession of stolen goods in 2010, as well as misdemeanors including illegally carrying a concealed weapon, a hit-and-run, speeding and driving with a revoked license.
Court records from the 2010 felony case say detectives determined Routh was storing stolen building supplies and other items at his roofing business warehouse, where he was living at the time. Money from the sale of the stolen goods was used to purchase crack cocaine, according to a police affidavit used to get a search warrant.
In both the felony cases, court records show judges sentenced Routh to either probation or a suspended sentence, allowing him to escape prison time.
It was not immediately clear how Routh was able to obtain a weapon. In most states, it is generally forbidden for a person convicted of a felony to purchase or possess a firearm.
In 2018, Routh moved to the small town of Kaaawa, Hawaii, about 45 minutes outside Honolulu, to go in business with his adult son building small wooden sheds. According to his LinkedIn page, the structures would "help address the highest homelessness rate in the United States due to unparalleled gentrification."
"All of us are tired of seeing the homeless people all over the island with nowhere to go," he told Honolulu's Star-Advertiser in 2019.
No one answered the door Sunday at his blue stucco house near the beach that is colorfully painted with wooden cutouts of fish. A white pickup truck with a Biden-Harris bumper sticker and a flat tire was in the driveway.
Neighbour Christopher Tam said Routh kept to himself and was respectful, cordial and kind.
"It's just been very surprising," Tam said. "If he did have anything to do with it, it's very shocking to us."
------
Biesecker reported from Washington and Condon and Sisak reported from New York. AP writers Alanna Durkin Richer, Michael Balsamo, Colleen Long and Eric Tucker in Washington, Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Gary D. Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, contributed. Researcher Rhonda Shafner in New York also contributed.
Scotiabank users are reporting issues with mobile login and online banking, according to third-party website downdetector.ca.
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbors who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others help save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) has uploaded dozens of dashboard camera videos from the 1970s to their YouTube channel.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
It's been a long and emotional journey for Manitoba residential school survivor Susan Caribou. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, has been missing since September 2011 and has never been found.
It's been a long and emotional journey for Manitoba residential school survivor Susan Caribou. Her niece, Tanya Nepinak, has been missing since September 2011 and has never been found.
The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick (PANB) has uploaded dozens of dashboard camera videos from the 1970s to their YouTube channel.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others help save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
A former Alberta teacher has been sentenced to four years for sexually abusing a student.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday formally apologized to native Americans for the 'sin' of a government-run boarding school system that for decades forcibly separated children from their parents, calling it a 'blot on American history' in his first presidential visit to Indian Country.
Chinese hackers targeted cellphones used by Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, his running mate, JD Vance, and people associated with the Democratic campaign of Kamala Harris, people familiar with the matter said Friday.
A New Hampshire woman was sentenced Friday to 53 years to life in prison in the death of her 5-year-old son, who was beaten, starved and exposed to drugs before his 19-pound body was found buried in a Massachusetts park in 2021.
Pizza inadvertently laced with THC has apparently sickened dozens of people in Wisconsin.
A makeshift aquarium that popped up this summer in a puddle beneath a leaky fire hydrant has been paved over, to the dismay of neighbors who turned the area into a hangout spot and goldfish shrine.
Israeli strikes on residential areas in southern Gaza killed 38 people on Friday, Palestinian health officials said, including 13 children from the same extended family.
Longtime Liberal MP Wayne Long says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should give more weight to the views of his backbenchers in determining his future leading the Party, rather than relying on those in his immediate orbit.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly says Canada strongly condemns a new surge in gang violence in Haiti.
Canada's long-held consensus on immigration is under threat but has not disappeared, the immigration minister said in an interview after announcing a major cut to the number of newcomers to Canada.
Children who have coughs that go on for weeks may have a type of walking pneumonia that鈥檚 been surging in the U.S. this year, and they may need a different antibiotic regimen to treat it, infectious disease experts say.
The number of people infected by the E. coli outbreak tied to McDonald's Quarter Pounder hamburgers increased to 75 from 49, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said on Friday.
Understanding the common symptoms of a cold or flu can help you make an informed choice about treatment. Here鈥檚 what to know about each illnesses鈥 symptoms and when it鈥檚 time for a doctor visit.
The search for a popular tortoise that went missing from his home in Piedmont is over after his owner said he came home.
Most people have accumulated a pile of data -- selfies, emails, videos and more -- on their social media and digital accounts over their lifetimes. What happens to it when we die?
A Florida mother has sued artificial intelligence chatbot startup Character.AI, accusing it of causing her 14-year-old son's suicide in February and saying he became addicted to the company's service and deeply attached to a chatbot it created.
Phil Lesh, a classically trained violinist and jazz trumpeter who found his true calling reinventing the role of rock bass guitar as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, died Friday at age 84.
A New Mexico judge has upheld her decision to dismiss an involuntary manslaughter charge against Alec Baldwin in the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on the set of a Western movie.
Tom Holland is getting ready to don his Spidey suit again. The fourth installment of the blockbuster series has been set for a July 2026 release, Sony Pictures said Friday.
Natural gas producers in Western Canada have white-knuckled it through months of depressed prices, with the expectation that their fortunes will improve when LNG Canada comes online in the middle of next year.
Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem says the world has become more prone to supply shocks which create more risks to inflation, but the central bank is in a better place to deal with them now that inflation is under control.
The former longtime CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch pleaded not guilty Friday to federal sex trafficking and interstate prostitution charges.
Archeologists have uncovered a tiny house in Pompeii that is filled with elaborate 鈥 and sometimes erotic 鈥 frescoes, further revealing the ornate way in which Romans decorated their homes.
In early 2018, Amanda and Sunil started chatting, messaging back and forth on Instagram, introducing themselves and talking a little about their lives. Fast forward to August 2018, the couple got engaged on vacation in Thailand and a year later, after Amanda moved to India, got married.
A Toronto man who only recently checked a Lotto 6/49 lottery ticket he bought back in June is now $2.5 million richer.
A Sherpa teenager who's won mountaineering celebrity as the youngest person ever to summit the world's 14 highest peaks called for Sherpas to be recognized as athletes and expedition leaders as well as porters and guides.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored the winning goal 1:26 into overtime, and the Winnipeg Jets remained unbeaten this season with a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night.
Broadway vs. Hollywood has produced the starriest Series in decades, if not ever.
A town in southern Alberta will be one of the first to let golf carts be driven on select roads as part of a provincial pilot program.
An increased risk of fire has prompted the recall of thousands of Honda hybrid vehicles in Canada.
A senior executive for Volkswagen in China has been deported for allegedly using cocaine and marijuana while on vacation in Thailand, according to Chinese authorities and German media reports.
A new resident at a Manitoba animal rescue has waddled her way into people's hearts.
Hundreds of people ran to the music of German composer and pianist Beethoven Wednesday night in a unique race in Halifax.
He is a familiar face to residents of a neighbourhood just west of Roncesvalles Avenue.
A meteor lit up our region's sky last night 鈥 with a large fireball shooting across the horizon over Lake Erie at around 7:00 p.m.
Residents of Ottawa's Rideauview neighbourhood say an aggressive wild turkey has become a problem.
A man who lost his life while trying to rescue people from floodwaters, and a 13-year-old boy who saved his family from a dog attack, are among the Nova Scotians who received a medal for bravery Tuesday.
A newly minted Winnipegger is hoping a world record attempt will help bring awareness for the need for more pump track facilities in the city.
A Springfield, Ont. man is being hailed a 'hero' after running into his burning home to save his two infant children.
Hortense Anglin was the oldest graduate to make her way across the platform at York University's Fall Convocation ceremony this week. At the age of 87, she graduated with an Honours degree in Religious Studies.
Video has surfaced on social media of a fight on a Burnaby golf course earlier this month, wherein a man appears to strike a fellow golfer with his club.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.
Canada Post driver Rick Harper recounts how he and others help save a woman from a Tesla that caught fire after crashing into a guardrail on Lake Shore Boulevard.
Police say they are searching for a second suspect wanted in connection with the murder of a 37-year-old Brampton man who was shot to death in Toronto last month.
An infant has died and a woman is in hospital with life-threatening injuries after they were pulled from a burning home in the city's west end overnight.
The Alberta legislature is set to reconvene on Monday and the Danielle Smith government will be providing more details about its plans for the session.
An investigation into the death of a man in Calgary police custody earlier this month has concluded that officers did not contribute to his death and that he was cared for properly.
A section of construction work along Deerfoot Trail is now complete, but Calgarians can expect more work to continue on the busy roadway over the next few years.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say a 14-year-old boy from Bridgewater, N.S. is facing several charges in connection with threats made against a Catholic high school in eastern Ontario.
A Montreal man is charged with first-degree murder in connection to the stabbing death of a woman at a park in Ottawa鈥檚 south end on Thursday.
Ontario Provincial Police are investigating after a body was found in Perth, Ont. Friday afternoon.
Quebec's social services minister says he's outraged by reports that educators at a detention centre for youth in Montreal had sexual relations with minor detainees 鈥 and that one of the employees allegedly had a baby with a teenage resident.
Two minors were in court Friday to face charges after four teenagers were stabbed outside a Montreal high school.
A man and a woman are dead after a house fire west of the Island of Montreal in the municipality of Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.
A former Alberta teacher has been sentenced to four years for sexually abusing a student.
Although Edmonton City Hall is a stone鈥檚 throw from the Alberta Legislature, Oil City feels the need to hire a third party to get its voice heard by the UCP government.
Forty-eight new Edmonton police recruits graduated Friday. Class 160 is one of the largest classes EPS has had.
The GoFundMe page for the family of an employee found dead at a Halifax Walmart last weekend has paused donations after almost $200,000 was raised in roughly 24 hours.
Gas prices dropped slightly in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick overnight, while there was no change on Prince Edward Island for the second week in a row.
The Halifax Regional Municipality will soon be home to three new schools that will replace aging infrastructure and meet the new demands of the communities.
Winnipeg police are looking for a suspect after a woman's dorm room was broken into at the U of M and she was assaulted.
Repairs to the historic 110-year-old rail bridge at The Forks could come with a multi-million dollar price tag.
Winnipeg police are concerned about the well-being of a teenage girl who has been missing for two weeks.
Saturday will mark the end of the CFL regular season, and the Saskatchewan Roughriders will have their eyes on Winnipeg鈥檚 matchup versus Montreal to know if they have a chance of clinching the West Division.
The police watchdog group Saskatchewan Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT) was deployed to Fort Qu'Appelle after a person went into medical distress while in custody on Friday.
As the final day of voting for the Saskatchewan election inches closer, voters may be wondering when official winners will be declared.
Geovanny Villalba-Aleman, the man who stabbed three people in a gender studies class at the University of Waterloo, says he 鈥榓cted dumb鈥.
All the evidence has now been called at the trial of Erick Buhr, who has pleaded not guilty to second degree murder in the death of his grandmother, Viola Erb.
People in the Weber Street East and Madison Avenue North area of Kitchener may need to find an alternate route this morning as police investigate a stabbing.
A Saskatchewan woman is worried her child might die before receiving life-saving surgery and tests as he sits on the province's surgical waitlist.
The Saskatchewan RCMP is releasing the names of two suspects arrested on Thursday for a violent vehicle theft that triggered a widespread police search.
Police have still not confirmed the identity of a body discovered in Prince Albert last week.
The Town of Cochrane plans to roll out its $10-lot program in a month or two.
In Sudbury on Friday, a flag-raising and a proclamation was held to kick off the 2024 poppy campaign.
Two people 鈥 one from Timmins, the other from Kapuskasing -- have been fined more than $7,000 for camping violations, including empty septic tanks directly onto the ground.
London police have issued a warning to the public following an increased number of overdoses in the area of Queens Avenue and Adelaide Street North.
On Wednesday afternoon just before 4:30 p.m., a man and woman entered a business in the area of Oxford Street East and Highbury Avenue North.
A new staff report calls for homeless encampments to be allowed even closer to residential neighbourhoods, reducing the buffer zone from 100 metres to 25 metres.
Several students have been banned from being spectators at school sporting events, and others suspended from school, after verbal and physical exchanges at a high school soccer game.
A 15-year veteran officer with the South Simcoe Police Service has been charged with discreditable conduct following an allegation of sexual assault.
Residents are reporting troubling scenes along a stretch of Georgian Bay鈥檚 shoreline, where several dead birds have been found.
The Windsor Police Service is investigating a suspicious death in south-central Windsor.
A Harrow school is memorializing two students and their mother, who were tragically killed in June.
With Halloween just around the corner, there are plenty of spooktacular events in Windsor-Essex this weekend.
Mounties in Nanaimo are asking the public for help as they investigate a fatal hit-and-run collision that killed a man southeast of the city Thursday evening.
A Canadian navy missile test was aborted mid-flight this week after controllers lost communication with the projectile off the coast of southern California.
Employers and the union representing foremen at British Columbia's ports will return to the negotiating table next week with a mediator in the latest push for a resolution in the labour dispute.
Dave Lindsey began growing giant pumpkins to bring a bit of magic to his grandkids' Halloween.
A U.S. District Court judge in Montana has sentenced a 27-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., to 18 months in prison for using fake names to buy guns with the aim of selling them in Canada.
Nearly two years after a man was stabbed to death in downtown Kelowna, RCMP have made an arrest in the case.
About 15,000 students are enrolled at Lethbridge鈥檚 post-secondary schools, and now the city is working with those schools to try to find ways to get them s to stick around a while.
With Halloween less than a week away, organizations in Lethbridge are preparing to get in on the trick-or-treating fun.
The City of Lethbridge is bringing forward a water conservation policy, the first of its kind for the city.
The Anishinabek Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating the circumstances around a death in Fort William First Nation.
A 44-year-old suspect has been charged after police in Sault Ste. Marie spotted a vehicle running in a parking lot Thursday night.
Two Americans who veered into the Canadian side of Lake Huron and caught fish during the National Walleye Tour last year have been fined by an Ontario court.
Investigators found the remains of a 77-year-old American man on Wednesday at the scene of a fire that destroyed a hotel in western Newfoundland earlier on the weekend.
Police in western Newfoundland say a 77-year-old man visiting the province from Kansas is missing after a fire at a hotel in Deer Lake, N.L.
At 2 p.m. on Thursday, the scene at the Lions Club in Clarenville, N.L., rivalled any rowdy St. John's bar that thumps with music late on a weekend night.
The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at 愛污传媒. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop.聽Read about us.
