The man who most recently attempted to take former President Donald Trump's life played "cat and mouse" with law enforcement personnel.

This is according to Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Scott Duffey.

Duffey recently provided his take on the assassination attempt to Fox News Digital.

In the interview with the outlet, Duffey provided his opinion on the shooter - 58-year-old Ryan Routh - and the events that led up to the incident.

"Someone who is constantly trying to poke somebody"

The likelihood is that you, the reader, have heard by now some of the details about Routh's background, including the fact that he, during a three-decade period from about 1980 to 2010, had more than 100 interactions with police officers.

Fox reports:

His prior charges range from writing bad checks to felony firearms possession, possession of a stolen vehicle and multiple counts of possession of a weapon of mass destruction in 2002 — specifically, a "binary explosive with a 10-in[ch] detonation cord and a blasting cap."

According to Duffey, this says a lot about the type of person that Routh is.

Duffey said:

It's not only a lengthy criminal arrest record, but for several decades. You have this escalation of violent acts, and then, of course, other contacts with police like driving without a license. Those are not violent acts, but they are constant contacts with police. That tells me that over the past few decades, whatever was going through his head, he wanted to be in contact with law enforcement

Duffey described this tendency as that of "someone who is constantly trying to poke somebody and see what their response is going to be."

There was "a clear mental illness component"

According to Duffey, Routh's background would suggest that he has mental problems.

The former FBI agent even suggested that Duffey likely escaped prosecution in the past due to these mental health concerns, instead being ordered to undergo psychological treatment.

Duffey said:

It's telling me that there is a mental health component to this, that he's someone that has had quite a bit of history with contacts with police. For example, the barricaded gun situation, the driving without a license – was he purposely trying to do a cat and mouse game with law enforcement?"

Duffey concluded by noting that people like Duffey are "not unique."

He also hoped that one day in the future, Duffey would reveal what it is that led him to try to assassinate Trump, in the hope of preventing future assassination attempts.