Feb. 23, 2026, 10:20 a.m. ET
An armed man was shot and killed by law enforcement after breaching a secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago.The man was identified as Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old from North Carolina.Martin worked at a North Carolina golf course and was known for his illustrations of golf landscapes.
The armed man who allegedly breached a secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago, then raised a gun at law enforcement officials on Sunday before being shot by U.S. Secret Service agents and local authorities, worked at a popular golf course in North Carolina and was known for his illustrations of other golf courses, according to multiple sources.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office identified the man as Austin Tucker Martin, 21, from North Carolina. Martin was reported missing within the last few days, Reuters reported.
A security detail detected the man near the north gate of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, at about 1:30 a.m. local time. Authorities said he was carrying a shotgun and a fuel can. The president was in Washington during the incident and not at his property.
Martin worked at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, North Carolina, just a few miles from the Pinehurst Resort, the headquarters for the USGA and the World Golf Hall of Fame. He was also an illustrator who captured golf landscapes.
His early work focused on pen-and-ink illustrations and he then expanded into watercolor, keeping his digital footprint intentionally streamlined. His online presence centered around his Fresh Sky Illustrations website and an Instagram account, @greenillustrator11, both dedicated to promoting his growing brand. Fresh Sky Illustrations was an art company devoted to capturing a day on the golf course, bringing course landscapes to life through hand-drawn scenes. The company offered framed, original works in select golf course pro shops, while Martin also took on personal commissions.
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Pine Needles was designed by legendary architect Donald Ross and opened in 1927. It was most recently restored by Kyle Franz in 2017.
Pine Needles has been host to four U.S. Women’s Opens, with Annika Sorenstam winning in 1996, Karrie Webb in 2001, Christie Kerr in 2007 and Minjee Lee taking the trophy in 2022.
The rolling, tree-lined venue is the No. 5 public-access course in North Carolina on Golfweek’s Best annual state-by-state rankings. It also ranks No. 146 on Golfweek’s Best list of all classic courses built before 1960 in the U.S. It is part of a three-course operation by the same owners, with Mid Pines across the street and Southern Pines just a few miles away, also having recently been restored by Franz.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters that Martin reached the property’s inner perimeter near its entrance, prompting a sheriff’s deputy and two Secret Service agents to go to the area and investigate.
“They confronted a White male that was carrying a gas can and a shotgun,” Bradshaw said. “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.”
Kathryn Palmer of USA Today contributed to this report.
