A new claim is circulating online that Ryan Routh—the man charged in connection to the second assassination attempt against President Donald Trump—attended Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in North Carolina days prior.
“The Shooter, Ryan Routh, is believed to have been spotted at Kamala Harris’ North Carolina Rally on September 12 when they bussed everyone in,” one X account wrote in a viral post that has been viewed more than 2.6 million times.
The account attached a video that paused on one rally attendee who shares similar features to Routh and appears to be wearing the same salmon-colored shirt he wore upon his arrest.
@MJTruthUltra, who first posted the video, did not reveal where he obtained it.
“Certainly looks like the same shirt…” noted another account that shared a side-by-side comparison of the man at the rally and Routh during his arrest.
“Must be the only shirt he owns,” joked someone else.
Routh posted online about his support for Harris and sported a Harris bumper sticker on his pickup truck. His support followed a political evolution evident from posts he made online, where previously indicated he supported Trump in 2016 but grew disillusioned and backed other political figures including Vivek Ramaswamy, Nikki Haley, and Tulsi Gabbard.
The idea that he’d attend a Harris rally in North Carolina is not far-fetched given Routh is a North Carolina native (though he had recently moved to Hawaii).
Following the assassination attempt, federal authorities raided Routh’s Greensboro home. Harris held a rally that day in Greensboro, as well as another in Charlotte. Images of the buses in the video appear to match that of Charlotte. The two towns are approximately 90 minutes apart.
It was at the address at which Routh was registered to vote, according to North Carolina’s State Board of Election records. Those records show that for years Routh was an unaffiliated voter, but in March, voted in the state’s Democratic primary.
Arrest records from North Carolina similarly establish Routh’s connection to the state.
One such instance was a 2002 arrest for “weapon law violations” and “terrorist threats,” which appears to be in connection to an incident in which Routh barricaded himself inside a roofing business and engaged in a three-hour standoff with police following a traffic stop, according to the Greensboro-based News & Record.
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