The 21-year-old man who was shot and killed after entering Mar-a-Lago with a weapon was a recent high school graduate who last year started an artwork company that specialized in handmade drawings of golf courses.
The artist, Austin Tucker Martin, of Cameron, N.C. was confronted by the Secret Service and officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office inside the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago complex. He was carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel canister. Officers told him to drop the items, but he put down only the canister and was shot and killed after raising the shotgun to a “shooting position,” the authorities said.
President Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the shooting, which occurred around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. The incident follows several high-profile attempts on his life, including two assassination attempts during his 2024 campaign.
Mr. Martin likely drove from North Carolina to Florida on Saturday afternoon, based on information poste by family members on social media as well as a statement from the sheriff’s department in the rural North Carolina county where he lived.
Family members of Mr. Martin, including his mother, Melissa Martin, had posted on Facebook throughout the weekend that he was missing.
On Sunday morning, at around 7 a.m. — hours after Mr. Martin was killed by authorities — Ms. Martin posted to her followers, asking them to help “find my boy.” An hour later, she shared an image of a poster with a picture of Mr. Martin and information about his car, a 2013 silver Volkswagen Tiguan. He had last been heard from at 7:51 p.m. on Saturday, the poster said.
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Ric Bradshaw, the Palm Beach County sheriff, said the car found near the scene that was believed to be Mr. Martin’s was a silver Volkswagen, and that there was a box lying in the back seat that appeared to have been carrying the shotgun. Mr. Bradshaw said authorities are not yet sure where Mr. Martin obtained the weapon.
On Sunday morning, police were seen surrounding a silver Volkswagen parked at Midtown Beach, a public area that is around a 30-minute walk from Mar-a-Lago.
Chrissie Fields, a woman who appeared to be Mr. Martin’s aunt, had also posted on Facebook, saying that he had left his home at 1 p.m. Saturday. “This is not like him at all,” she wrote.
Neither Ms. Martin or Ms. Fields responded to multiple requests for comment.
In a statement, the sheriff’s office of Moore County, N.C., said that a relative of Mr. Martin reported him missing around 1:38 a.m. on Sunday, which is around the same time that the incident at Mar-a-Lago occurred.
The sheriff’s office said that it did not have any record of prior interactions with Mr. Martin.
Mr. Martin graduated in 2023 from Union Pines High School in Cameron, N.C., according to a social media post from his mother.
He was a registered voter, listing his party as unaffiliated, according to state voting records.
His cousin, Braeden Fields, told The Associated Press that Mr. Martin came from a family of “big Trump supporters.” Mr. Fields added that Mr. Martin had worked at a local golf course and would send a portion of his paychecks to charity.
In June 2025, Mr. Martin registered a business called “Fresh Sky Illustrations.” According to its website, it is an artwork company focused on “bringing to life the hopeful feeling of being on a golf course by illustrating golf course scenes and providing framed copies of handmade works in various golf course gift shops.” The company also took personal commissions, the website said.
Mr. Martin regularly posted drawings on a Facebook profile that appeared to be his personal account. The last drawing he posted was on Thursday.
Mr. Martin’s sister, Caitlin Renea Martin, died in 2023 at age 21 from a car accident, according to an online obituary and local news reports about the incident.
Georgia Gee contributed research. Kaja Andric contributed reporting.
Sonia A. Rao reports on disability issues as a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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