US Secret Service says shot dead man trying to access US President Florida estate

Armed man killed inside perimeter of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence identified

FLORIDA: The United States Secret Service said on Sunday that its agents had shot and killed an armed man who breached the security perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

A man has been shot and killed after entering the secure perimeter of Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, the Secret Service says.

Trump was in Washington at the time of the incident that reportedly happened around 1:30 am (11:30am PKT).

Secret Service agents fired at a man after they saw him “unlawfully entering the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early this morning,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a post on X.

The suspect, a man in his early 20s, “was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can,” the agency said in a statement.

Agents confronted the man and fired shots. No US officers were injured, the agency said that no “Secret Service protectees” were present in Mar-a-Lago at the time.

The individual was pronounced deceased. “The only words that we said to him were drop the items, which means the gas can and the shotgun,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters.

“At which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said. A deputy and two Secret Service agents then shot him.

The suspect, named by US media as 21-year-old Austin T. Martin, from North Carolina, was reportedly carrying a shotgun and a fuel cannister when he entered Mar-a-Lago about 01:30 local time (06:30 GMT).

He reportedly gained access near the north gate when a guest was leaving the property. There are still many unanswered questions about the suspect and his possible motives

Trump, who often spends his weekends in Mar-a-Lago, has been the target of several assassination plots or attempts.

Earlier this month, Ryan Routh, 59, who plotted to assassinate the president at a Florida golf course in September 2024, two months before the US election, was sentenced to life in prison.

Routh’s planned attack on Trump came two months after an assassination attempt on the Republican leader in Pennsylvania, where 20-year-old Matthew Crooks fired several shots during a rally, one of them grazing Trump’s right ear.

That attack, in which a rallygoer was killed, proved to be a turning point in Trump’s return to power. Crooks was immediately shot and killed by security forces, and his motive remains unknown.

The incident was the latest in a series of episodes of political violence in a highly polarised country.

The name of the suspect in the Sunday incident has not been released while officials attempt to contact his relatives.