(The Center Square) – Prosecutors said the man facing gun charges after attempting to kill former President Donald Trump on a Florida golf course left a note urging someone to complete the job if he failed.
Ryan Wesley Routh, a 58-year-old with residences in Hawaii and North Carolina, left the note with a person federal prosecutors described as a civilian witness several months before the Sept. 15 incident. The person reached out to law enforcement on Wednesday, according to court records filed Monday. The letter offered money to anyone who would finish the job.
"This was an assassination attempt on Donald Trump but I failed you. I tried my best and gave it all the gumption I could muster,'" the letter reads. "It is up to you now to finish the job; and I will offer $150,000 to whomever can complete the job."
Prosecutors filed new documents in the case ahead of a pretrial hearing. The documents provided new details about Routh's attempt to kill the former president. The documents show Routh, who used a Democratic ballot in the North Carolina primary earlier this year, had been planning to kill Trump for months.
Routh had an SKS-style rifle with a scope. He hung a backpack and another bag along the fence line outside the green of the sixth hole. The bags both contained plates that subsequent testing showed could stop small-arms fire.
The rifle contained a total of 11 rounds and had a round in the chamber. The serial number on the rifle was obliterated and unreadable, prosecutors said.