U.S. Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy shot and killed a man who entered the secure perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate early Sunday morning, the Secret Service said in a statement.
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters Sunday morning that the individual, identified as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin of Cameron, North Carolina, was carrying a gas canister and a shotgun. Bradshaw confirmed the identification of Martin after initially withholding it until officials could notify his family.
According to Bradshaw, the officers confronted Martin, who was White, around 1:30 a.m. and ordered him to put down the gas canister and the gun. He put down the canister and “raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said.
“At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons” and shot and killed the man, who died at the scene, Bradshaw said.
Bradshaw said the incident happened “just inside the inner perimeter” of Mar-a-Lago, near the estate’s north gate.
Martin’s family had reported him missing Saturday. No officers were injured during the incident at Mar-a-Lago, officials said.
Bradshaw did not specify which officers fired their weapons or how many shots were fired, saying that is under investigation. Officers involved in the incident, he said, were wearing body cameras. Officials will release photos of the man’s weapon, he added. The FBI is the lead agency running the investigation, Bradshaw said, with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office assisting.
“There’s a lot more investigation to be done,” Bradshaw said. “Fortunately, nobody was in jeopardy inside because of the quick action that was taken by the deputies and the Secret Service.”
Brett Skiles, the special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, said the bureau is still processing the scene and collecting evidence.
Skiles urged people who live in the area near the president’s estate to check exterior security cameras for footage of Saturday night leading into Sunday morning and report “anything that looks suspicious” to law enforcement officers.
Trump has survived two assassination attempts, both during the 2024 election year, events that factored into that year’s election and have played a significant role in the political image-making of Trump’s second term.
On July 13, 2024, a gunman on a rooftop fired several shots at Trump during a campaign speech in Butler, Pennsylvania. The then-candidate was grazed by a bullet, two other people were critically injured, and one attendee was killed. The gunman was killed by the Secret Service. A few days later Trump appeared at the Republican National Convention wearing a bandage over his ear.
Months later, in September 2024, a man armed with a rifle was spotted outside Trump’s golf club in West Palm Beach as Trump played a round. Secret Service agents intervened, and the man was later convicted of attempted assassination.
Trump has consistently linked the assassination attempts to what he calls angry rhetoric from his political opponents, whom he accuses of trying to stymie his greater vision for America. But he also has depicted his surviving the attempts on his life as a sign of divine intervention as he sought the nation’s highest office.
“Just a few months ago, in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin’s bullet ripped through my ear,” Trump said during his second inaugural address. “But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.”
Trump has leaned into that theme throughout his second term. A few weeks ago, while addressing GOP House members, he stopped his remarks to point out the photographer who captured a picture of a bullet’s path in Butler. And the president has installed a painting that depicts a moment after the shooting — blood across his face, with his fist raised in defiance — in the White House entrance hall. It is among the first thing visitors see when coming through the front door.
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