Man accused of trying to kill Trump cross-examines ‘hero’ Secret Service agent

A Secret Service agent — the first witness in the federal trial of a man accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump — testified Thursday that he came within five feet of the defendant as he aimed an assault rifle through a cyclone fence directly at him on a West Palm Beach golf course.

“I was in fear for my life ... and I was in fear for President Trump’s life,” Agent Robert Fercano testified in Fort Pierce federal court after opening statements in the trial of the North Carolina defendant, Ryan Wesley Routh.

Fercano told the 12-person jury that he was doing a security sweep of the sixth hole at the Trump International Golf Club as the presidential candidate played there on Sept. 15, 2024, when he spotted Routh and the barrel of a rifle portruding through a bush-obscured fence. Fercano said he was able to see Routh’s face through the foliage and identified him in court as the defendant standing trial. He said that as he backpedaled, he pulled out his revolver and fired shots at Routh, causing him to flee and leave his assault rifle, bullet-proof plates and other evidence by the fence. In court, he also held up the weapon, an SKS semiautomatic rifle, that Routh was accused of using in his alleged assassination attempt.

Fercano’s testimony marked a powerful start in Routh’s trial, which is historic for a couple of reasons: The 59-year-old man is on trial for trying to assassinate Trump, who at the time was running as a presidential candidate for a second term; He’s also defending himself after firing the federal public defender’s office as his attorney. Trial testimony started one day after right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk, a Trump ally, was assassinated on a university campus in Utah.

The Routh indictment charges him with attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate, which carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. He is also charged with possessing a firearm in furtherance of a crime of violence, assaulting a federal officer, felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.

During his cross-examination of the Secret Service agent, Routh awkwardly asked Fercano about how “the defendant” could have positioned himself to aim a weapon at him from behind the golf course fence.

“I don’t know your mindset that day,” Fercano said. “All I know is you were pointing the weapon at my face.”

Routh, who was supposed to be only asking questions, retorted: “Maybe it wasn’t my mindset.”

Routh also asked the agent if he incurred any injury in his close encounter with the defendant, who did not fire any shots. “No, not physically,” Fercano testified, adding that he was affected mentally because his life was threatened.

Opening Statements

During his opening statement, Routh lasted a few minutes as he rambled about the evolution of mankind while mentioning Hitler, Putin and other notorious public figures. After prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office objected, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon cut him off, saying that his opening statement had to summarize the case, the defense and the evidence.

“What I’ve heard in the first five minutes is nothing of the sort,” Cannon said, admonishing him about “making a mockery about the dignity of this court.”

Routh briefly resumed his opening statement: “This case hangs on intent — what is in one’s heart.” But then he said: “This case means absolutely nothing.”

On that note, Cannon shut down his opening statement.

Before Routh, who was dressed in a light-gray suit and tie, gave his statement, a prosecutor portrayed him as a man on a mission to kill Trump.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Shipley said Routh, who has a criminal history, “obsessively followed the movements” of Trump in the months leading up to the alleged attempt to end his life on his golf course in West Palm Beach a year ago. Shipley said Routh, using the internet, monitored Trump on the campaign trail, in his private plane and at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach.

“He hid himself in the bushes right across from the sixth green,” Shipley told jurors. “He waited in that one spot waiting to get his shot off” at Trump.

As the Republican candidate stood on the fifth-hole putting green last September, Fercano, the Secret Service agent, was riding a golf cart in a security sweep of the sixth hole and noticed someone hiding behind a chain-link fence in the southeast corner of the course. He spotted the scope of a rifle sticking through the tree-lined enclosure.

Federal authorities say the man lurking behind the cyclone fence was Routh. He had traveled from North Carolina to South Florida with a semi-automatic rifle in mid-August of last year to carry out the attempted execution of the former president at Trump International Golf Club, according to the FBI.

Authorities say he set up a “sniper’s nest” along the fence on the southern end of the sixth hole as he waited to take a shot at Trump just a few hundred yards away. When the Secret Service agent fired four shots at him after spotting his rifle sticking through the fence, Routh fled but he left the weapon behind with his fingerprints on the electrical tape attached to the scope, according to the FBI.

A witness saw Routh running across the road from the golf course and getting into a black Nissan Xterra. The witness, identified in court as Tommy McGee, reported the information, along with a partial license plate number, to law enforcement. Routh was later stopped that same day while heading north on I-95 by Martin County sheriff’s deputies, in coordination with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.

Shipley, the prosecutor, told jurors that Routh’s case has two “heroes.”

“Agent Fercano is the reason the defendant didn’t get away with it,” Shipley said. “Mr. McGee is the reason the defendant didn’t get away.”

This story was originally published September 11, 2025 at 3:00 PM.