Ryan Routh formally indicted on attempted assassination charge, allegedly targeting Donald Trump

The man accused of staking out Donald Trump's Florida golf course with a rifle was indicted on Tuesday on a charge of attempted assassination of a political candidate, U.S. prosecutors said.

Ryan Routh, 58, was already facing two gun-related charges after authorities said he pointed a rifle through a fence at Trump's golf club in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sept. 15 while the Republican presidential candidate was golfing there.

Routh has been ordered to remain in jail to await trial.

"The Justice Department will not tolerate violence that strikes at the heart of our democracy, and we will find and hold accountable those who perpetrate it. This must stop," U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.

The U.S. Department of Justice said a federal grand jury in Miami returned the indictment late Tuesday afternoon. The attempted assassination charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed a criminal case in July accusing Trump of illegally keeping classified documents after leaving office.

No plea entered by accused

Routh has not yet entered a plea. His lawyers unsuccessfully sought to have him released on bond.

Prosecutors have in recent days revealed evidence they said pointed toward a plan to kill Trump. They alleged that months before the incident, Routh dropped off a letter to an unidentified person alluding to "an assassination attempt on Donald Trump."

LISTEN | Who is Ryan Routh?: 

Front Burner20:15Who is Trump's second alleged would-be assassin?

Former U.S. president Donald Trump was golfing on his course in Palm Beach, Fla., Sunday afternoon when the Secret Service say they spotted the barrel of a gun in the bushes. It was what they believe to be the second potential attempt at assassinating Trump in just two months. The suspect, arrested after a brief pursuit, was Ryan Welsey Routh: a 58-year-old from North Carolina who's been interviewed in the past about trying to recruit Afghan fighters to join the war effort in Ukraine. Marin Cogan, a senior correspondent for Vox, walks us through what happened, what else we know about the suspect and the tinderbox of a highly polarized and heavily armed America. For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts [https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts]

They said Routh spent a month in South Florida, and cellphone data showed him near the golf course and Trump's Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago. He was found with a handwritten list of dates and venues where Trump spoke or was expected to appear, according to court filings.

A U.S. Secret Service agent searching the golf course ahead of Trump opened fire after discovering the gun poking through the fence, causing Routh to flee, prosecutors said. He was arrested within an hour along a Florida highway.

Routh was initially charged with possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

The incident in Florida came two months after a different gunman shot at Trump during a July rally in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. Trump was wounded in the ear, and the gunman was shot dead at the event. A rallygoer was killed and two others were wounded.

These dramatic events have occurred during Trump's third presidential campaign, following his initial 2016 effort that sent him to Washington and the 2020 campaign he lost to U.S. President Joe Biden.

This time around, Trump is facing a Democratic ticket led by U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has replaced Biden as her party's presidential nominee.