Two people have been indicted in connection with the firearm allegedly used by Ryan Wesley Routh, the man charged with attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump on his Florida golf course last summer.
According to CBS News, federal prosecutors said Tina Brown Cooper and Ronnie Jay Oxendine gave “inconsistent stories” to investigators about how Routh obtained the gun.
The Justice Department previously announced that Routh was indicted on one count of attempting to assassinate a former U.S. president.
He was arrested last September near the perimeter of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach.
Routh, 58, was taken into custody after Secret Service agents found him with a loaded firearm, according to the DOJ.
He was also found in possession of ammunition and a pair of gloves, the U.S. Department of Justice said at the time.
Prosecutors said he was not allowed to own a firearm because he had been convicted of felony charges in 2002 and 2010.
Cooper told federal authorities she and Oxendine helped him procure a gun after he claimed it was “for his son to use as protection,” CBS News reported.
The two individuals, who have both admitted guilt, helped him, but told federal agents they did not know how he allegedly intended to use the firearm.
Prosecutors said the duo sold Routh a Chinese-made SKS rifle a month before he was arrested.
Cooper worked for Oxendine’s roofing company in Greensboro, North Carolina, and she had asked Oxendine to make the sale to Routh, according to Just the News.
Cooper had previously worked for Routh at his roofing company.
“Cooper, Routh, and Oxendine allegedly met at Oxendine’s roofing company’s headquarters, where Routh paid Oxendine $350 cash for the rifle and $100 to Cooper for helping to arrange the sale,” according to the report.
On Monday, Cooper pleaded guilty to firearm trafficking and “admitted she was ‘guilty’ of assisting Routh,” according to a court filing cited by CBS.
Last month, Oxendine pleaded guilty to possessing an unregistered firearm after law enforcement officers searched a storage building belonging to him and found a short-barreled shotgun.
According to news reports, Cooper and Oxendine both knew Routh was not legally allowed to own a gun.
Both suspects initially gave conflicting accounts to law enforcement about when and how Routh came into possession of the weapon he allegedly intended to use on President Trump.
Routh is currently being held without bond.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
According to the DOJ, Routh was close to Trump as he golfed just weeks before the 2024 election.
Routh had an SKS rifle with a scope and an extended magazine. The serial number on the rifle had been removed.
His arrest came weeks after Trump was struck in the ear by a bullet at a July 13 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
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