Trump golf course gunman Ryan Wesley Routh’s chilling social media posts surface… as it’s revealed he was arrested in 2002 for having ‘weapons of mass destruction’

• The FBI is probing a second assassination attempt on Trump in just two months 

The suspect who allegedly wanted to shoot Donald Trump has a rap sheet that includes a hours-long standoff and ‘terrorist threats’ and a social media post saying he can’t wait until the former president is ‘gone.’

Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, is in custody after aiming an AK-47 rifle barrel towards Trump when he was golfing at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida on Sunday.

The would-be shooter was convicted more than two decades ago with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, according to a more than two-decades old News & Record report.

Routh was 36 at the time and was arrested after a three-hour standoff with police when he barricaded himself inside a local roofing business in Greensboro, North Carolina after speeding away from a traffic stop while wielding a firearm.

He also admitted on social media in June 2020 that he did vote for Trump in 2016, but was hoping as president he would be ‘different and better’ than how he was as a candidate.

‘We all were greatly disappointed and it seems you are getting worse and devovling; are you retarded,’ Routh wrote at the time. ‘I will be glad when you gone (sic).’

Multiple reports name the suspected gunman at Donald Trump’s golf course on Sunday as Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, a registered Democrat and construction worker

Part of Routh’s rap sheet in North Carolina includes 2002 ‘weapon law violations’ and ‘terrorist threats,’ according to public records.

Roth is a construction worker and a registered Democrat.

Multiple reports emerged naming him the suspect in the golf course incident where Secret Service opened fire when the barrel of a rifle was seen poking through bushes where Trump was golfing on Sunday.

New images reveal the backpack, GoPro camera, AK-47 style rifle and bullet-proof armor that the gunman left behind when fleeing the scene where he was targeting the former president.

Law enforcement held a press conference in West Palm Beach on Sunday after the FBI announced it is now investigating a second assassination attempt against Donald Trump in just two months.

The former president was rushed to safety after multiple shots were fired in his vicinity during a round of golf at Trump International Club.

It comes nearly exactly two months after a gunman tried to take out Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Officials said a U.S. Secret Service (USSS) agent spotted a rifle barrel sticking out of the chain link fence behind bushes just two holes ahead of where Trump was playing a round of golf on Sunday, prompting the agent to fire at the suspect.

A witness saw the suspect run into his black Nissan SUV from the brush, according to the press conference. But the individual was able to snap a picture of the license plate.

Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that the witness was able to share the license plate and later identified to law enforcement that the suspect they have in custody is who he saw fleeing the scene.

An image shared by law enforcement reveals that backpack, bag, GoPro camera and AK-47 rifle with scope that a suspected would-be assassin had staged outside of Donald Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach on Sunday

A nearly two-minute clip from 2022 emerged sunday after Routh was revealed as a suspect where he was being interviewed by News Week Romania about helping recruit fighters for Ukraine in its war with Russia.

‘This is definitely evil against good,’ Routh said in the video where he was wearing an American Flag patterned t-shirt.

The suspect was able to get within 400-500 yards of Trump, according to law enforcement.

The 2024 Republican nominee’s bulked up Secret Service advance team, however, spotted the shooter in the tree lines just two holes from where Trump was golfing.

Special Agent Rafael Barros explained at the press conference on Sunday that Secret Service moves along with Trump and usually surveying one or two holes ahead of him when he goes for a round of golf.

Asked if the security has changed around Trump since the first attempt on his life earlier this summer, Barros said: ‘Yes, the threat was high.’

‘We have increased the amount of assets that we’ve supported,’ he continued. ‘We are living in dangerous times.’

Real estate investor and New York City landlord Steve Witkoff was Trump’s golfing buddy on Sunday, sources told DailyMail.com.

Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters a member of Donald Trump’s Secret Service detail spotted the barrel sticking out from bushes two holes from where the former president was golfing on Sunday

Multiple shots were fired near Trump’s golf club in West Pam Beach, Florida on Sunday. Now a police scene is setup outside the club

The armed suspect was posted up outside the club around the 5th and 6th hole, which is confirmed to be a more ‘vulnerable’ area of the course because it is closest to the road.

Sheriff Bradshaw detailed that the suspected assassin was wielding an ‘AK-47 style weapon with a scope’, which was recovered at the scene.

So was a backpack and GoPro camera, which Sheriff Bradshaw revealed in images of where the suspect was set-up in the bushes along the fencing of Trump’s golf club.

The area where the suspect was first spotted by his security detail was two holes ahead of where Trump was golfing at the time of gunshots, causing the individual to flee.

When not campaigning, Trump is often found golfing at his West Palm Beach club. Pictured: Donald Trump flashes a thumbs-up as he golfs at his club in West Palm Beach on May 4, 2023

Undergrowth is cut back in this area every summer and is one of the parts of the course closest to the road.

The incident comes as Trump’s security detail has been ramped up in the two months after the former president was shot in the ear during an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13.

Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.) is on the House Task Force on the assassination attempt and said Sunday that the latest proves the attack in Butler was not an ‘isolated incident.’

‘As I’ve said before, the July 13th assassination attempt was not an isolated incident that we can take our time investigating as domestic and foreign threats are ongoing,’ Waltz wrote on X.

He added: ‘As a member of the Assassination Task Force, I expect the Secret Service to brief us this week.’

Police survey the tree line and brush outside Trump International Golf Club where the gunman was hiding and where he left his belongings when he fled the scene

The Task Force said it is looking at this incident – but it’s unclear if they will also start probing this in conjunction to the other assassination attempt.

Chairman Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) and Ranking Member Jason Crow (D-Colo.) wrote in a statement on Sunday: ‘The Task Force is monitoring this attempted assassination of former President Trump in West Palm Beach this afternoon.’

‘We have requested a briefing with the U.S. Secret Service about what happened and how security responded,’ it continues. ‘We are thankful that the former President was not harmed, but remain deeply concerned about political violence and condemn it in all of its forms. The Task Force will share updates as we learn more.’

Trump’s golf club is just five miles from his residence at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach and is where the former president is often spotted golfing when he is not on the campaign trail.

The Palm Beach Sheriff’s Department held a press conference Sunday afternoon to provide updates on the shooting and revealed images of the suspect’s backpack, GoPro camera and AK-47 rifle left at the scene.

The report of shots near Trump raises eyebrows as multiple investigations are ongoing into the shooting in Pennsylvania earlier this summer that left two dead, including the shooter, and two critically injured.

A bullet struck Donald Trump’s right ear during an assassination attempt on July 13 at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania

Shooter Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot dead by Secret Service agents after he was able to climb onto a roof with an AR-15 just 400 feet from where Trump was speaking and take multiple shots that killed one rally goer, critically injured two others and struck the former president

Trump walked away from the assassination attempt with just a bloody ear that could have been a fatal shot had it been a few millimeters different and struck his head.

But would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was shot dead by Secret Service before he was able to get in another shot at the former president.

Initial canvassing led to authorities discovering his car near the rally site in Butler with explosives and his parent’s home with even more bombs.

Congressional and other local and federal investigations are ongoing to discover what led to the failures that allowed a shooter to get just a few hundred feet away from Trump with an AR-15 rifle.