Assassination attempt on Trump: 4 questions that investigators want to answer

With suspected Trump assassin Ryan Routh now in custody, the FBI and Florida police will have their hands full uncovering his plans and possible motives.

Former NYPD detective and security expert Patrick Brosnan told Fox News Digital that investigators will have to comb through a litany of information in the coming weeks, including “anything related to cell phones, online shopping, cell phone camera images, bank records, email correspondence, recent search engine queries, dating app activity, identifying all possible disposable phones, footage from… city streets, UPS trucks, Amazon trucks or backup cameras, and any pings from cell towers within a fixed distance.”

Using that information, investigators will build Routh's profile to answer those questions, said Gene Petrino, a SWAT commander with nearly 30 years of law enforcement experience and a master's degree in security management.

Potential Trump assassin Ryan Routh camped for 12 hours under cover of darkness: court documents

1. Did Ryan Wesley Routh act alone?

Petrino said investigators would obtain search warrants to scour Routh's social media and talk to his family and associates to find out if anyone else was involved in planning his assassination attempt Sunday afternoon or if there was someone who may have trained him beforehand.

“They will be looking for a possible accomplice or someone who knew and didn't say anything,” Petrino said.

The FBI said at a press conference on Monday that it had no information suggesting Routh was working with anyone else.

DONALD TRUMP'S FAILED ASSASSINATION ATTEMPT: AUTHORITIES PROVIDE SECURITY UPDATE FOR FIRST RALLY IN FOLLOW-UP

2. What was Routh’s motive?

Investigators now want to use his environment and social media to find out what might have motivated the 58-year-old to allegedly target the former president.

“They're definitely going to look into his background and his motive. They're going to gather all the videos of him that they can find, they're going to look at social media accounts, they're going to talk to neighbors,” Petrino said. “They're going to look at what his motive might have been or if he has a personal vendetta.”

Routh wrote a series of political posts on X. Before Sunday's assassination attempt, he called Trump a “buffoon,” an “idiot” and a “fool,” and wrote that he supported Trump in 2016 but now considers that decision a “terrible mistake.” Routh wrote that Iran should “feel free to assassinate Trump and me for this miscalculation.”

Trump assassination attempt in Florida: Secret service marks “red line,” says Pennsylvania task force

Members of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Department patrol outside the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, Monday, September 16, 2024. (Mega for Fox News Digital)

He also wrote that he would be ready to “voluntarily fight and die” to support Ukrainian troops at the front.

Routh is a pro-Ukraine activist who has spent time in the Eastern European country volunteering to garner more support for the country's military efforts and has even reached out to Afghan veterans who fled the Taliban to fight in the war, according to a New York Times report.

“I guess if someone feels so passionately about having to go to another country to defend another country, then maybe they have the same feeling about what they think needs to be done in their own country,” Petrino said.

3. How did Routh come into possession of a firearm?

After Routh was spotted fleeing the scene at Trump International Golf Course, police recovered a loaded SKS rifle with a scope that had its serial number obliterated. Routh was charged in federal court on Monday with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

Routh has a criminal record in North Carolina's Guilford County dating back to the 1980s. The charges against him range from writing several bad checks to possession of firearms, possession of a stolen vehicle and several counts of Possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002, namely a “binary explosive with a[ch] Detonating cord and detonator.”

Bodycam footage released on Monday shows Trump assassination suspect Ryan Routh being taken into custody on Sunday, September 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff's Office)

“They're going to investigate how he got the gun and whether it was used anywhere else,” Petrino said. “He had a previous conviction for gun possession, which normally means you can't get another gun. How could he get another gun if he was a convicted felon?”

4. How did Routh know where to lie in wait?

According to court documents, Routh arrived at Trump International Golf Course under cover of darkness and hid in the bushes for nearly 12 hours.

Petrino said authorities need to determine how he knew where Trump was and how he scouted a location from which he could fire directly at the former president.

This courtroom sketch shows Routh in federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, September 16, 2024. Routh is charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number. (Lothar Speer)

“You have to do some trial and error to figure out where to hide,” Petrino said. “Could he have done it on the computer using Google Maps? Sure. But it seems like there was some planning and thought behind it. How did he know to go to that spot? The likelihood that he was in the area, saw a motorcade and said, 'That's the president, I'm going to get him' is very slim.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“How did this guy know where Trump would be? It seems to me that this is either a security breach, or that supposedly secure channels are not actually working, or that someone from the inside is leaking information,” Petrino said.

Audrey Conklin of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.