Suspect in Trump’s apparent assassination attempt had no ties to Ukraine peace movement in Hawaii
HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - Hawaii’s supporters of peace in Ukraine were stunned to hear that a Hawaii man allegedly tried to kill former President Donald Trump, apparently for his position on the war.
Ryan Routh’s criminal record is entirely in North Carolina — which he left in 2018 to move to Hawaii — where he only has a handful of traffic tickets.
In Kaaawa, he lived in a house owned by Kathleen Shaffer, who identified herself as his fiancée and apparently raised money to help him travel to Ukraine. But neither of them were involved in the local effort to support peace there.
Local and national media staked out the home along Kamehameha Highway Monday expecting federal agents to search the house, which is typical in cases like this.
On Sunday, the day of Routh’s arrest in Florida, agents did knock politely, but left without entering the home.
A woman who resembled Shaffer appeared briefly Sunday. She had taken down a GoFundMe site she’d posted supporting his effort to recruit people to fight in Ukraine. It was replaced Monday by a new GoFundMe, by someone else, attracting support for his legal defense. It had no donors.
Hawaii Stands with Ukraine organizer Lara Palafox said no one in the organization had heard of Routh before Sunday.
“It’s a shock. It’s a relief to know that he was like he wasn’t part of the group,” she said. “We didn’t know who he was.”
Palafox said she checked their membership rolls and videos to confirm Routh wasn’t there.
“I am an advocate for peace, and I really just did not want any association with any violence,” she said. “I’m definitely relieved.”
Palafox said she was stunned to see Routh’s pictures from Ukraine include a banner displaying a number with an 808 area code, “so I rang that number.”
So did Hawaii News Now.
Routh’s voice is on the greeting.
“This is Ryan in Hawaii with Camp Box Building and also the International Volunteer Center sending soldiers to Ukraine as well as Taiwan,” he said.
The greeting mashes up Routh’s peculiar politics with his peculiar business, Camp Box Building, which claims to have installed custom tiny homes in scores of places around Oahu.
His disclaimer, called his “customer service information” is also unconventional. It warns customers, “We will not tolerate any complaining or disputing the building and workmanship.”
But the lengthy document also concludes, “Life is short, so I want for every day to be a totally fun and enjoyable experience with laughter and wonderful interaction.”
The phone greeting is less upbeat, saying callers should message him on various apps: “I do not do voicemail so please do not leave me a voicemail message. I will never get it.”
On Monday, the mailbox was full.
Hawaii News Now tried to reach Routh’s fiancée, but did not hear back.
Routh is charged with gun crimes for now, and is being held by federal officials in Florida pending more charges for the suspected attempted murder.
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