The man found guilty of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course last year attempted to stab himself in the neck with a pen after a verdict was read in federal court.
Ryan Routh’s daughter reportedly screamed out, “Dad, don’t hurt yourself,” as U.S. Marshals tried to restrain him inside the Fort Pierce courtroom on Tuesday.
Routh, 59, was found guilty on all counts after jurors deliberated for roughly two hours at the conclusion of a fast-paced, 12-day trial over his aborted plot to kill the president. He faces life in prison when he is sentenced on December 18.
Routh, who pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and chose not to have a lawyer throughout the proceedings, had planned the attack at the president’s Trump International Golf Club West Palm Beach nearly one year ago. He was armed with a semiautomatic rifle while then-candidate Trump was playing golf on September 15, 2024. The incident was just months after Trump was wounded in a shooting during a Pennsylvania rally.
Secret Service agents spotted him hiding in shrubbery — what prosecutors called a “sniper’s nest” — armed with an SKS-style rifle with a shaved-off serial number.