Armed Suspect Killed for Mar-a-Lago Security Breach Identified as 21-Year-Old Man from North Carolina
Investigators have not identified a motive for the shooting, and the suspect, Austin Tucker Martin, was pronounced dead at the scene
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Austin Tucker Martin. Credit :
NEED TO KNOW
The identity of the armed suspect who was shot and killed after he entered Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort this weekend has been revealed as Austin Tucker Martin
Martin is a 21-year-old man from Cameron, N.C., multiple news outlets reported, citing officials
Investigators have not identified a motive for the shooting, and Martin was pronounced dead at the scene
The identity of the armed suspect who was shot and killed after he entered Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort this weekend has been revealed.
The perpetrator has been identified as Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old man from Cameron, N.C., multiple news outlets, including the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post and Fox News reported, citing officials.
Martin is believed to have purchased his shotgun while driving south, Anthony Guglielmi, the Chief of Communications for the U.S. Secret Service, said, per the Associated Press. A box for the weapon was later found in his car, the outlet reported.
Guglielmi said in a prior news release that Martin was “observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can.” Ric Bradshaw with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office (PBSO) said during a press conference that officers told Martin to drop the items, but he put down only the canister and was shot and killed after raising the shotgun to a “shooting position.”
Investigators have not identified a motive for the shooting. Martin was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Donald Trump, Mar-a-Lago.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty;Saul Martinez/Getty
Martin entered the secure perimeter of Trump’s residence in Palm Beach, Fla., at around 1:30 a.m. local time on Sunday, Feb. 22, the Secret Service said in its news release.
Trump, 79, who often spends weekends at his resort, was at the White House in Washington, D.C., during the incident, according to the Associated Press. Melania Trump was also there at the time, the outlet said.
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Guglielmi said in his statement that “U.S. Secret Service agents and a PBSO [Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office] deputy confronted the individual and shots were fired by law enforcement during the encounter.”
He added that “no U.S. Secret Service or PBSO personnel were injured,” and, “in accordance with agency policy, the involved Secret Service agents will be placed on routine administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.”
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A Secret Service member (stock image).
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The Moore County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) said in a Facebook post that a relative of Martin’s “approached a deputy at a local business and reported him missing,” and Martin was then “entered into a national missing person database.”
“Following that report, federal authorities informed the Sheriff’s Office that they are conducting an active investigation in Florida involving Martin. At their request, the missing person case information has been turned over to federal investigators,” the MCSO added.
The FBI did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on Feb. 22. The PBSO and the Secret Service directed PEOPLE to the FBI, and the MCSO directed PEOPLE to the information shared in its Facebook post.
The Mar-a-Lago incident was the latest in multiple assassination attempts and death threats Trump has faced as president and while campaigning.
One notable instance took place during a campaign rally in July 2024, when Thomas Matthew Crooks allegedly attempted to shoot Trump. (Crooks, 20, died after a Secret Service sniper killed him, while Trump suffered a gunshot wound to his upper right ear.) Another occurred when Ryan Wesley Routh was arrested at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf club months later, allegedly intending to shoot Trump when he approached. (Earlier this month, Routh, 59, was sentenced to life plus 84 months in federal prison.)
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