Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Moore County was reportedly shot and killed by officers Sunday after breaching the perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Florida home while armed with a shotgun and a gas can.
The FBI and Palm Beach police say that Martin, whose North Carolina family had recently reported him missing, drove through the North Gate of the property, where he was confronted by security agents, shot and killed. The FBI is in charge of the investigation. The bureau is asking neighbors to check their own security cameras for any images that might aid investigators. Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw also said that the officers were wearing body cameras.
The incident happened at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. Secret Service officers and a Palm Beach County deputy confronted a man who drove inside the security perimeter. According to posts on social media, Martin’s family had asked for help in finding him on Saturday, posting his picture and a picture of his silver Volkswagen.
“They confronted a white male that was carrying a gas can and a shot gun,” Bradshaw said in a press conference Sunday. “He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position. At that point in time the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat. He is deceased at the scene.”
“Agents and the deputy discharged firearms to stop the threat,” Rafael Barrios, special agent in charge of the Secret Service in Miami, told reporters on Sunday. “At this time, no law enforcement personnel were injured during the incident. We want to be clear the president of the United States was not in the state of Florida.”
In September 2024, Greensboro man Ryan Wesley Routh snuck on to Mar-a-Largo with a rifle in an attempted assassination of Trump. Routh is currently serving a life sentence in federal prison after being convicted by a federal jury of all five counts charged in the indictment.
Sunday’s incident marks the third assassination attempt against Trump in three years.
