Former President Trump survived a second assassination attempt in just two months over the weekend after U.S. intelligence officials opened fire on a gunman near a fence while the billionaire candidate was golfing in Florida.

The police seized an SKS rifle with which the suspect allegedly aimed through a fence at the edge of the race track.

But as more details about the suspect emerge, he appears to be a radical activist upset by geopolitical conflicts and a repeat offender convicted of a violent crime, consistent with his ideological online posts, which are currently being investigated by the FBI.

Suspect of Trump assassination laughs and smiles at his first court appearance in Florida

Ryan Routh, suspected of attempting to assassinate Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump at his golf course in West Palm Beach, is seen in handcuffs after his arrest during a traffic stop near Palm City, Florida, September 15, 2024. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office/Handout via Reuters)

In the years before his arrest on Sunday, suspect Ryan Wesley Routh had dozens of run-ins with the law and was outspoken on political issues, particularly the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Based on information from federal and local law enforcement, here is a timeline of the final hours of his plan.

Sunday, September 15

1:59 am: Suspect Ryan Wesley Routh arrived in the “vicinity,” according to court documents. Federal prosecutors claim phone signals showed he was in the tree line at the edge of the golf course for nearly 12 hours. He walked away when Secret Service agents spotted him in the early afternoon and opened fire.

1:30 p.m. ET: Dispatchers in Palm Beach County received reports that shots were fired at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach as the former president played a round.

A Secret Service agent searching the area several hundred yards from where the former president was located spotted a man aiming an SKS rifle through the fence and opened fire. The suspect fled in a Nissan SUV, leaving behind two bags, a camera and the rifle.

Images of evidence found on the fence of former President Trump’s golf course are shown during a press conference on September 15, 2024 in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Candan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)

Witness saw Trump assassination suspect flee from bushes, took photo of getaway car

2:14 p.m.: According to court documents, officers from the Palm Beach and Martin County Sheriff’s Offices stopped the suspect’s vehicle on Interstate 95.

Routh was the only one in the car and when asked if he knew why he was stopped, he reportedly replied “yes.” Officers determined that the license plate on Routh’s Nissan allegedly belonged to a stolen Ford truck.

Ryan Routh is accused of aiming an SKS rifle at former President Trump on September 15, 2024, as the 2024 Republican presidential candidate was golfing at his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida. (Obtained from Fox News Digital)

14:23: The Trump team issued a statement acknowledging the incident.

“President Trump is safe following the shooting near him,” wrote Steven Cheung, the campaign’s communications director. “No further details at this time.”

Democratic MP demands that secret service expand Trump’s protection area: “Unacceptable”

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

5:30 p.m.: Federal law enforcement sources identified 58-year-old Ryan Wesley Routh as the suspect in custody.

Records show that Routh has had dozens of run-ins with the law over the years. According to the Greensboro News and Record, one such standoff with police in North Carolina in 2002 involved him fleeing a traffic stop in the middle of the night and barricading himself in the office of his roofing business for three hours.

He was later convicted of possession of a weapon of mass destruction, which forced him to illegally possess a firearm. The weapon, according to authorities, was a homemade bomb with a 10-inch fuse and a detonator.

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

Monday, September 16

11am: Routh appeared in his first appearance in federal court wearing a jail jumpsuit and handcuffs. He shared a few laughs with his public defender before the ten-minute hearing began, during which he appeared attentive and answered all of the judge’s questions.

During a press conference on Monday afternoon, the FBI announced that its agents had obtained search warrants for Routh’s devices, which were seized at the crime scene and at known previous addresses.

They interviewed at least seven witnesses at the scene, and Routh invoked his Fifth Amendment right to a lawyer, said FBI Miami Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey Veltri.

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)

He also said that in 2019, an informant reported that Routh may be a felon who was illegally in possession of a firearm in Hawaii. The complainant was interviewed, but the information was not verified. Routh was not interviewed by the FBI, which referred the details to Honolulu authorities.

Before Sunday’s failed assassination attempt, the suspect was portrayed in online statements and an apparently self-published book as a radical who condemned the former president and other targets, including Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

News photos and articles show that he visited Ukraine in 2022 and at least talked about helping defend the country, wearing shirts and carrying signs with political messages.

Former FBI agent warns against rhetoric comparing Trump to dictator that led to assassination

Former President Trump was injured in an assassination attempt at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In a photo taken by a Reuters photographer on May 3, 2022, he attended a rally calling for international help in evacuating Ukrainian soldiers and civilians from Mariupol, a Ukrainian city in Donetsk Oblast, carrying a sign that read “World, help us.”

May 17, 2022: He took part in a rally in Kyiv calling on China to help besieged Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Mariupol. And on May 29, he was photographed kneeling next to a field of blue and yellow flags at another rally in Kyiv.

In a 2023 interview with global news site Semafor, he claimed he spent about five months in Ukraine recruiting foreign fighters, including Afghan nationals trained in the US. In the same article, Ukrainian officials warned he was exaggerating “a bit.”

In his self-published book on the subject, “Ukraine’s Unwinnable War,” Routh is said to have written in a passage addressed to Iran: “You are free to assassinate Trump,” the Associated Press reported on Monday.

A screenshot of Ryan Routh’s apparent X account shows some of the content he sent to various high-profile users. (X)

Routh also frequently posted on U.S. politics, explaining that he once voted for Trump but changed his mind.

“I didn’t support Bernie, but now I do; because sleepy Joe stands for nothing; no plans, no ideas, just as weak as Hillary. Bernie… give them hell… fight to the death…” he appears to have written during the 2020 presidential primaries.

Veltri said his posts were being investigated.

The account was suspended on Monday, but Fox News Digital had previously reviewed many of his messages. He openly asked accounts with large followings for help in building support for Ukraine and other causes, sometimes using force.

When Russia’s ally Belarus experienced political turmoil in 2020, he asked citizens there: “Don’t you have weapons?”

Former President Trump is seen at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, on February 8, 2021. (Reuters/Marco Bello)

“I would never let anyone put one of my friends in a van,” he wrote. “There would be bloodshed, lots of it.”

He then suggested they buy “sniper rifles” on Amazon, even though the site’s policies do not allow the sale of firearms.

In June 2020, he also tagged Trump, Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, calling for a federal agency with oversight powers over state and local police departments following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.

His posts could also be inflammatory. He called on the Ukrainian armed forces to continue “until (P)utin is dead and Moscow is a pile of rubble.” He asked Elon Musk to sell him a rocket for that purpose.

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“When you were my choice in 2016, I and the world hoped that President Trump would be different and better than the nominee, but we were all sorely disappointed and it seems you are getting worse and regressing. Are you retarded? I’ll be glad when you’re gone,” he posted on June 11, 2020.

He also called on journalists, celebrities and politicians to amplify his call to action.

Routh is due back in court this month in the Trump case.

Fox News’ Heather Lacy, Audrey Conklin and Mollie Markowitz contributed to this report.