WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday in West Palm Beach he's signing an executive order to officially launch a state-level investigation into the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump over the weekend.
Speaking at the training division of the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office, DeSantis said Florida's Office of Statewide Prosecution, under the supervision of Attorney General Ashley Moody, along with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and Florida Highway Patrol, will conduct their own criminal investigation into Ryan Wesley Routh, 58, of Hawaii, separate from any federal government probe.
"The state of Florida has jurisdiction over the most serious, straightforward offense, which is attempted murder," DeSantis said, adding that "we have a duty to pursue the most serious offense available."
WATCH: Gov. Ron DeSantis announces state investigation into attempted assassination
The governor said Routh broke numerous state laws in multiple judicial circuits, including Palm Beach, Martin, and possibly Broward counties.
State and federal authorities said Routh pointed a SKS-model rifle through a tree line at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on Sunday while the former president was on the course.
A Secret Service agent saw the weapon and fired at Routh. He was eventually captured on Interstate 95 in Martin County and is facing federal charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, along with possession and receipt of a firearm with an obliterated serial number.
Moody on Tuesday said the state violations Routh committed — including attempted murder — will likely be different from any federal crimes, which is, in part, why her office wants to conduct its own investigation and prosecution.
"The American people need to know we're on this. Sometimes, states have the ability and the jurisdiction to bring charges and go after maximum penalties that maybe the federal government does not. And that doesn't mean it's a turf war," Moody said. "It is very common for state investigators, state prosecutors to work with our federal prosecutors and federal agents on dual tracks with different purposes."
DeSantis has repeatedly raised concerns with the federal investigation into the assassination attempt, in particular citing the classified documents case against Trump that was being prosecuted in federal court in Fort Pierce, an hour north of Trump International Golf Club.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon dismissed the classified documents case in July, saying the appointment of special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutional.
However, Smith has appealed that ruling, saying Cannon's decision is "at odds with widespread and longstanding appointment practices in the Department of Justice and across the government."
"In my judgment, it's not in the best interest of our state or our nation to have the same federal agencies that are seeking to prosecute Donald Trump leading this investigation, especially when the most serious, straightforward offense constitutes a violation of state law, but not federal law," DeSantis said Tuesday in West Palm Beach.
At a news conference Monday, Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe Jr. said Routh "did not have a line of sight to the former president" and did not fire at Secret Service agents before he fled the scene.
"As former President Trump was moving through the fifth fairway across the [golf] course, and out of sight of the sixth green, the [Secret Service] agent who was visually sweeping the area of the sixth green saw the subject armed with what he perceived to be a rifle and immediately discharged his firearm," Rowe said.
WATCH: Secret Service, FBI give update on Trump assassination attempt
After the gunfire, agents near Trump evacuated the former president to a safe location.
According to the FBI, cellular data showed that Routh was in the area Trump International Golf Club roughly 12 hours before Sunday's incident.
"What happened? Something went terribly wrong," Moody said. "When someone was allowed to remain on the periphery of a golf course in a tree line for 12 hours and get within 500 feet of the president od the United States."
The federal charge of possessing a firearm despite a prior felony conviction carries a possible 15-year sentence, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release.
A second charge of possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number carries a possible five-year prison sentence, a $250,000 fine, and also three years supervised release.
Routh will be in court for a bond hearing next Monday. A second hearing is scheduled for a formal arraignment in two weeks, where he is expected to enter a plea.
