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Body camera footage released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office on Monday shows the moment law enforcement officials arrested the suspect accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf course over the weekend.
In the video, police with the sheriff’s office surround the vehicle containing 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh, who is believed to have pointed a semi-automatic-style rifle at the former president on Sunday afternoon at Trump National Golf Club in Palm Beach.
One law enforcement official can be heard yelling directions at Routh on the side of I-95, telling him to “take two steps to your right and “walk straight back.”
Routh, wearing a pink t-shirt over his head and sunglasses on his eyes, walks backward with his arms in the air until he’s in the hands of police. Officers quickly wrangled his hands behind his back and brought him to a police car to be taken to the Palm Beach County jail.
Local law enforcement officials managed to track Routh down while he was driving on I-95 shortly after he allegedly pointed a semi-automatic-style rifle at the former president while he was golfing.
Routh was hiding in bushes a few hundred yards away from Trump on his golf course when a Secret Service agent saw the barrel of the gun poking out. Once the agents fired shots in his direction, he got into a Nissan SUV and quickly drove away.
A witness took a photo of the car’s license plate which helped officers find Routh and take him into custody.
Officers first located the vehicle Routh was driving in around 2:15 p.m. They pulled him over and when asked if he knew why he was being pulled over Routh responded affirmatively, according to a criminal complaint.
Law enforcement officials said the license plate attached to the Nissan was registered to a 2012 white Ford truck which had been reported stolen.
The suspected gunman was formally charged with possession of a firearm while a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number on Monday afternoon.
Federal law enforcement officers are currently investigating the incident as an “attempted assassination,” though it is unclear what the exact motive was at this time.
