US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters and members of the media at Mar-a-Lago on 1 February. (Photo: Al Drago/Getty Images) US Secret Service and local police shot and killed a man armed with a shotgun early on Sunday after he breached a secure perimeter at President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, said law enforcement officials.
Trump was not at the site at the time — he was in Washington. The man in Sunday’s incident was identified as Austin Tucker Martin (21) from North Carolina, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Martin was reported missing within the last few days, according to the source.
The incident occurred at a time when the US is facing a spike in political violence
In 2024, a gunman’s bullet grazed Trump’s ear during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, and a man later convicted of attempted assassination was spotted hiding in the bushes of a Florida golf course with a semi-automatic rifle while Trump was on the course.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/12667121.jpg "Donald Trump is rushed off stage by Secret Service agents after being shot during a presidential campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on 13 July 2024. (Photo: David Maxwell / EPA-EFE)")
‘A crazy person,’ says White House
The man was carrying a shotgun and a fuel can, said the Secret Service, adding that he was observed at the resort’s north gate at around 1.30am.
Two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy confronted the man and ordered him to drop the two items, said Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw at a press conference on Sunday morning.
The man put down the fuel can and raised the shotgun “to a shooting position”, prompting law enforcement to open fire, said Bradshaw.
The man was declared dead at the scene. No law enforcement officers were injured.
/file/attachments/orphans/US-Mar-a-Lago-shooting-Inset1_906819.jpg "A US Secret Service observation tower at the Mar-a-Lago club on 22 February 2026. (Photo: Cristobal Herrera-Ulashkevich / EPA)")
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said the Secret Service “acted quickly and decisively to neutralise a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded President Trump’s home”.
FBI heads investigation
Law enforcement officials did not reveal any information about the motive for the incident. The FBI has taken over the investigation and is collecting evidence from the scene, officials said.
FBI Director Kash Patel said in a social media post that the agency was “dedicating all necessary resources” to the investigation.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GettyImages-2235739335.jpg "FBI director Kash Patel. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)")
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he spoke to Trump after the incident. Bessent thanked the Secret Service for protecting the president and his family.
“We don’t know whether this person was a mastermind, unhinged or what,” said Bessent on the Fox News programme Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
In 2024, Trump faced two assassination attempts, including one at his golf course in West Palm Beach. The perpetrator of that incident was sentenced to life in prison this month.
Melissa Hortman, a Democratic state lawmaker in Minnesota, was shot and killed in June 2025 along with her husband. Months later, conservative activist Charlie Kirk was also assassinated. DM