A 21-year-old North Carolina man carrying a shotgun and a fuel can was shot and killed by Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff's deputy after breaching the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday morning.

Austin Tucker Martin entered near the north gate of the resort at around 1:30 a.m. on February 22. He was confronted by two Secret Service agents and a deputy. He pointed the shotgun at them. They fired. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the Daily Mail, President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump were not at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend. Both were at the White House at the time of the incident. No Secret Service agents or sheriff's deputies were injured.

What Law Enforcement Has Said

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi confirmed the basic facts in a statement:

"On February 22, around 1.30am, a male in his early 20s was shot by US Secret Service agents and deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office (PBSO) following an unauthorized entry in the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago."

Guglielmi added that a box for the weapon was found inside Martin's car, which his family identified as a 2013 silver Volkswagen Tiguan. A motive for the breach remains unclear as law enforcement continues to investigate. The FBI has asked nearby residents to review home security footage for any content that may help investigators.

Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw, when asked whether Martin was previously known to police, offered only two words: "not right now."

The Epstein Obsession

Whatever drove Martin to Mar-a-Lago appears to have been building for at least a week. On February 15, he texted a co-worker at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in North Carolina about the Department of Justice's release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein:

"I don't know if you read up on the Epstein Files, but evil is real and unmistakable."

"The best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have. Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness."

Co-workers, speaking anonymously, described Martin as fixated on the Epstein saga. They also said he was becoming increasingly frustrated by the state of the U.S. economy and had fruitlessly tried to start a union at his workplace.

It is worth stating plainly: President Trump has never been charged with any involvement in any wrongdoing related to Epstein and has long said he cut ties with the financier over 20 years ago. Whatever Martin convinced himself of, he pointed a shotgun at federal agents protecting the president's home. That is not activism. It is not awareness. It is a violent breach that ended exactly how it should have ended.

A Family in Shock

Martin's cousin, 19-year-old Braeden Fields, reacted with disbelief. He said the family was almost entirely in favor of Trump.

"We are big Trump supporters, all of us. Everybody."

Fields, who said he and Martin grew up together, described his cousin as "real quiet, never really talked about anything." He said Martin worked at a local golf course and would send money from each paycheck to charity.

"He wouldn't even hurt an ant. He doesn't even know how to use a gun."

Martin's aunt wrote on Facebook that "this is not like him at all." On his Instagram, Martin described himself as an artist: "I specialize in pen illustrations centered around landscapes, architecture, and scenery." A caption on one of his drawings read, "Thank you for this gift, Dear Lord."

According to family posts on Facebook, Martin left his family's $1.1 million home in Cameron, North Carolina, at around 1 p.m. on Saturday. He was last heard from just before 8 p.m. that evening. He was believed to have picked up the shotgun on his way south. He lived with his parents.

None of this biography changes what happened at 1:30 in the morning. A quiet kid who drew landscapes and thanked God for his gifts drove hundreds of miles with a shotgun and a gas can to breach the perimeter of the president's home. The gap between who his family thought he was and what he did is the most unsettling part of the story.

A Pattern That Cannot Be Ignored

This is the third serious security incident connected to Donald Trump in recent memory.

• During his 2024 campaign, Trump survived an assassination attempt at a Butler, Pennsylvania rally, where a gunman fired eight shots.
• A man tried to assassinate him while he played golf at his West Palm Beach club, just miles from Mar-a-Lago. Ryan Routh was spotted hiding in the shrubbery with a rifle by a Secret Service agent. Routh was found guilty last year and sentenced this month to life in prison.
• Five days before the Mar-a-Lago breach, a Georgia man armed with a shotgun was arrested as he sprinted towards the west side of the U.S. Capitol.

This is not coincidence. It is a climate. When political rhetoric runs hot enough for long enough, unstable people act on it. The specific ideology of the attacker matters less than the fact that political violence aimed at one direction keeps recurring. Whether the assailant is a leftist with a rifle in the bushes or a confused young man radicalized by conspiracy content, the target remains the same.

The Response

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the incident on X with characteristic directness:

"In the middle of the night while most Americans were asleep, the United States Secret Service acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded on the President Trump's home."

She also took aim at congressional Democrats:

"Federal law enforcement are working 24/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans. It's shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their department."

The agents on the ground did their jobs. They confronted an armed intruder in the dark, and when he raised a shotgun at them, they put him down. No hesitation. No casualties among the protectors. That is exactly the outcome the Secret Service exists to deliver, and after the security failures that preceded Butler, it is worth noting when the system works.

What Comes Next

The investigation is still in its early stages. Investigators have not publicly established a definitive motive. Martin's text messages suggest a young man spiraling into conspiratorial thinking, but why that spiral ended at the north gate of Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun and a gas can remains an open question.

What is not an open question is the security environment surrounding this president. Three credible armed threats in the span of a presidency and a campaign. Each one different in profile. Each one lethal in intent. The Secret Service stopped this one cold. The country should be grateful for that, and deeply troubled by how often they are being asked to.