“When you couple those terrible injuries together with [Routh’s] other criminal conduct, which we believe rises to the level of domestic terrorism, it turns his actions into an attempted felony murder case,” AG Moody said.
Ryan Routh, who has been accused of attempting to assassinate Donald J. Trump on September 15, was charged with attempted felony murder on Wednesday by Florida Attorney General Ashely Moody for causing significant injuries to a six-year-old girl during his escape. The young girl's life was nearly lost when a multi-car accident on the interstate occurred as a result of Routh's arrest in Marin County, the attorney general said.
According to ABC News, the accident occurred at around 3 pm, with the child suffering critical injuries after a vehicle rear-ended the one she and her family were in. "As a result of that, we felt compelled to seek justice on her behalf and her family that will never be the same as they cope with her injuries," Moody said, later adding, "when you couple those terrible injuries together with [Routh's] other criminal conduct, which we believe rises to the level of domestic terrorism, it turns his actions into an attempted felony murder case."
The accident occurred around three to four miles south of where Routh's traffic stop occurred. Routh was taken into custody at 2:23 pm. Both northbound and southbound travel were stopped by authorities during the traffic stop.
Attorney General Moody also alleged that the state-level investigation into Routh has been "obstructed" by the federal authorities, the National Pulse reported.
According to Moody, Florida investigators faced immense difficulty when they tried to look into Routh's actions on their own. She told reporters during a press briefing that state authorities "offered to be a partner" to federal authorities but were "immediately confronted with a lack of willingness to allow us access to the crime scene, and unwillingness to provide evidence that was collected, an unwillingness to allow us to accompany witness interviews, and the list goes on."
"Prosecutors and federal agents...made known that they intended to shut down our investigation and invoke federal jurisdiction in doing so," she added.
Florida filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice in October for obstructing the state's investigation.
Governor Ron DeSantis released a statement on the matter, writing on X: "The feds have stonewalled Florida's investigation of the Trump assassination attempt at every turn, and I appreciate AG Moody and her team for plowing forward despite such resistance. The tide will turn on January 20th and we fully expect that the federal roadblocks will be removed."
Martin County Sheriff William Snyder believes the alleged obstruction is politically motivated. "This was not normal from our federal partners. This was not ground-level FBI agents. This came from much higher, way above those FBI agents," he said.
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