UPDATED 9/16/24 4:50 p.m.
Former President Donald Trump was targeted in what the FBI is calling an assassination attempt on Sunday. The suspect is 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, a longtime Triad resident.
The North Carolina Department of Adult Correction website shows Routh as having various charges over the last few decades, including a 2002 charge of possessing a “weapon of mass destruction.” He has been a defendant in multiple court cases and faced a significant number of misdemeanors.
According to NPR, Routh owns a Hawaii-based business that builds portable storage units and tiny homes. On social media, he appears as a frustrated former Trump supporter who backs Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Routh is registered as an unaffiliated voter in North Carolina, and voted in this year’s Democratic primary in Guilford County.
Routh appeared in West Palm Beach federal court on Monday and was charged with two gun-related offenses — possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
*This is a developing story.