The man accused in the apparent assassination attempt on Donald Trump in Florida had written a letter months before saying he intended to kill the former US president and offered a bounty on his life, prosecutors have said.
Ryan Routh, 58, was arrested on 15 September after he was discovered attempting to conceal himself with a gun near Trump’s golf course in West Palm beach, where the Republican presidential nominee was playing.
He is scheduled to appear in court on Monday. In a court filing released ahead of the hearing, prosecutors alleged that several months before the incident Routh had written a note addressed to “the world” that offered $150,000 to whoever killed Trump.
The note was found in a box and handed to authorities by an unidentified witness. The box also included ammunition, a metal pipe and four phones, prosecutors said.
When Routh was arrested, his car contained a handwritten list of dates in August, September and October of places where Trump had appeared or was expected to appear, according to the court filing.
Routh was charged with two offences – possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. He has not yet entered a plea to the charges.
Prosecutors are expected to to ask the judge on Monday to keep Routh in jail until his trial.
This story is being updated
