![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/armed-man-shot-dead-after-entering-perimeter-of-mar-a-lago-us-secret-service.jpg\")
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were at the White House in Washington at the time (Allison Robbert\/AP)\n<\/p>\nThe US Secret Service has announced that an armed man was shot and killed after entering the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, President Donald Trump\u2019s resort in Palm Beach, Florida.<\/p>\n
The man, who was in his early 20s and from North Carolina, had a gas can and a shotgun, according to Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman.<\/p>\n
He had been reported missing by his family a few days ago, and investigators believe he headed south and picked up the shotgun along the way.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump were at the White House in Washington at the time (Allison Robbert\/AP)\n<\/p>\n
Mr Guglielmi said a box for the weapon was discovered in the man\u2019s vehicle after the incident, which took place around 1.30am on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The man killed was identified by investigators as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin, according to a person familiar with the matter.<\/p>\n
The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to publicly discuss details of the investigation.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump has faced threats to his life before, including two assassination attempts during the 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n
Although the president often spends weekends at his resort, he and first lady Melania Trump were at the White House when the breach at Mar-a-Lago occurred.<\/p>\n
After entering near the north gate of the property, the man was confronted by two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff\u2019s deputy, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them. At which time he put down the gas can, raised the shotgun to a shooting position,\u201d Mr Bradshaw said at a brief press conference.<\/p>\n
The two agents and the deputy \u201cfired their weapons to neutralise the threat\u201d.<\/p>\n
The FBI asked residents who live near Mar-a-Lago to check any security cameras they may have for footage that could help investigators.<\/p>\n
Investigators are working to compile a psychological profile and a motive is still under investigation.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the individual was known to law enforcement, Mr Bradshaw said \u201cnot right now\u201d.<\/p>\n
The incident comes as the US has been rocked by spasms political violence.<\/p>\n
![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1771791788_844_armed-man-shot-dead-after-entering-perimeter-of-mar-a-lago-us-secret-service.jpg\")
President Donald Trump often spends weekends at his Florida resort (Allison Robbert\/AP)\n<\/p>\n
The incursion at Mar-a-Lago took place a few miles from Mr Trump\u2019s West Palm Beach club where a man tried to assassinate him while he played golf during the 2024 campaign.<\/p>\n
A Secret Service agent spotted that man, Ryan Routh, aiming a rifle through the shrubbery before Mr Trump came into view.<\/p>\n
Officials said Routh aimed his rifle at the agent, who opened fire and caused Routh to drop his weapon.<\/p>\n
Routh was found guilty last year and sentenced this month to life in prison.<\/p>\n
Mr Trump also survived an assassination attempt at a Butler, Pennsylvania campaign rally.<\/p>\n
That gunman fired eight shots before being killed by a Secret Service counter sniper.<\/p>\n
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a post on X that \u201cthe United States Secret Service acted quickly and decisively to neutralise a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded President Trump\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Leavitt used her post to blame Democratic lawmakers in Congress for the partial government shutdown affecting the Homeland Security department that began February 14 after Democrats demanded changes to the president\u2019s deportation campaign.<\/p>\n
The Secret Service is among the agencies where the vast majority of employees are continuing their work but missing wages.<\/p>\n
\u201cFederal law enforcement are working 24\/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans,\u201d Ms Leavitt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department.\u201d<\/p>\n
The White House referred all questions to the Secret Service and FBI.<\/p>\n
Both Mr Trump and his wife posted statements on social media after the incident, but they were unrelated to the shooting.<\/p>\n
There have been other recent incidents of political violence as well.<\/p>\n
In the last year, there was the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk; the assassination of the Democratic leader in the Minnesota state House and her husband and the shooting of another legislator and his wife; and an arson attack at the official residence of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro.<\/p>\n
Five days ago, a Georgia man armed with a shotgun was arrested as he sprinted towards the west side of the US Capitol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The US Secret Service has announced that an armed man was shot and killed after entering the secure…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311938,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-311937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311937"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311937\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}