A man who slipped into President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate with a shotgun and a gas can was shot dead by Secret Service agents early Sunday, authorities said.
Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old North Carolina man, did not fire a shot after entering the property in Palm Beach, Fla., Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement.
Trump and his family were not at Mar-a-Lago during the incident; they were in Washington, D.C., over the weekend. Martin’s motive for the scheme remains under investigation, federal officials said.
Martin drove through a gate at the Palm Beach, Fla., property around 1:30 a.m. as another vehicle was exiting, investigators said. He was quickly confronted by law enforcement officers stationed at the gate.
The cops told Martin to drop the gas can and the shotgun, according to a Secret Service statement. Instead, he put down the gas can but raised his shotgun. Two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County deputy responded by shooting him dead, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office said.
Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Martin was not known to law enforcement prior to Sunday’s incident. His family reported him missing out of North Carolina a few days earlier and said they believed he was headed south.
Investigators said Martin likely bought the shotgun on his way from North Carolina. Police found a box for the weapon in his truck.
Trump has faced threats to his life, including near Mar-a-Lago in 2024 when an armed man tried to hide on his golf course while Trump played a round. Secret Service agents spotted the suspect, Ryan Routh, and chased him down. He was sentenced earlier this month to life in prison.
Trump was grazed by a bullet while speaking near Pittsburgh, Pa., in 2024 during the presidential campaign.
In the past two years, multiple people have also been arrested while trying to enter Mar-a-Lago for various suspect reasons, including a young man trying to “marry” Trump’s granddaughter Kai, and a middle-aged woman claiming to be the president’s wife.
With News Wire Services
