A North Carolina woman who claimed to be the longtime neighbor of alleged Donald Trump gunman Ryan Wesley Routh said that “a lot of people were afraid” of him back when he lived in her Greensboro neighborhood.
“I knew he was a little cuckoo,” the anonymous neighbor, who claimed she knew Routh, 58, for nearly 20 years, told Fox 8 on Sunday.
“He’s going to be going away for a long time,” she added.
Still, she told the outlet she was shocked the staunch Democrat would try to assassinate the former president and current Republican nominee.
“I mean, trying to shoot Trump? That’s a lot,” Routh’s former neighbor said. “I would have never guessed, and I would have swore up and down, no, that’s not him.”
“I just can’t believe it,” she said. “I mean, if I didn’t see it with my own eyes, I mean the pictures and stuff and all, then I wouldn’t be able to believe that.”
The woman also claimed that Routh had “a lot of guns” and frightened people in the neighborhood when he was living in the Tar Heel State.
“I’ve seen the guns myself and all, and, yeah, they had a lot of guns and stuff over there, and, yeah, a lot of people were afraid of him back in the day,” she told Fox 8.
According to Routh’s LinkedIn page, he attended North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University and moved to Hawaii around 2018.
Records from the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction showed that in 2001 and 2002, someone with Routh’s exact full name and birthdate was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, hit and run, and “possessing a weapon of mass destruction,” among other criminal charges.
Routh’s X and Facebook accounts have been suspended; Newsweek was able to view their contents before the suspension, however.
A post on X from June 2020 seemed to indicate a shift in his political alignment.
"While you were my choice in 2016, I and the world hoped that president Trump would be different and better than the candidate, but we all were greatly disappointment and it seems you are getting worse and devolving," Routh wrote, tagging Trump’s account.
"I will be glad when you gone," he added.
Federal Election Commission records reveal that Routh donated exclusively to Democrat candidates and causes from 2019-20.
Made through the Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue, the small donations were earmarked for Democrat presidential candidates Beto O’Rourke, Andrew Yang, Tom Steyer, Tulsi Gabbard, and Elizabeth Warren.
Routh was also a zealous supporter of Ukraine and worked to recruit volunteers to fight against Russia, according to Newsweek.
Secret Service agents spotted Routh on Sunday with a scoped AK-47 rifle near Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida.
He had reportedly set up a GoPro camera on a fence and fashioned a makeshift sniper’s nest in the property’s hedges as he waited for Trump to come within range.
After the Secret Service opened fire on Routh, he fled the scene but was arrested a short time later on I-95 by Martin County sheriff’s agents.