{"id":141975,"date":"2026-02-22T19:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141975\/"},"modified":"2026-02-22T19:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-02-22T19:22:16","slug":"mar-a-lago-shotgun-wielding-madman-idd-as-north-carolina-golf-course-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/141975\/","title":{"rendered":"Mar-a-Lago shotgun-wielding madman ID’d as North Carolina golf course artist"},"content":{"rendered":"

The crazed gunman who was\u00a0shot dead after trying to enter Mar-a-Lago\u00a0<\/a>with a shotgun and a gas can has been identified as a North Carolina artist who was reported missing by his mom.<\/p>\n

Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Cameron, North Carolina, was killed by law enforcement<\/a>\u00a0in the early hours of\u00a0Sunday morning,\u00a0law enforcement sources\u00a0told The Post.<\/p>\n

He was reported missing by his family\u00a0to authorities on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Cameron, North Carolina, was ID\u2019d as the gunman killed by Secret Service agents at President Trump\u2019s Mar-a-Lago estate. Facebook\/Melissa Martin<\/p>\n

Officials are still investigating whether he bought the gun en route to Florida.<\/p>\n

Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time, he was at the White House. On Saturday night, he and first lady Melania hosted the Governors Dinner \u2014 which Democratic governors appear to have boycotted.<\/p>\n

A box for the shotgun was discovered in Martin\u2019s vehicle following the shooting, which took place at around 1:30 a.m., according to Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.<\/p>\n

According to his social media, his family\u00a0was frantically looking\u00a0for him after he disappeared on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

One of the gunman\u2019s black-and-white drawings of a nearby golf course. Facebook\/Austin Marti<\/p>\n

Tucker Martin\u2019s social media shows\u00a0that he was obsessed with drawing scenes from the golf courses in the Sandhills region \u2014\u00a0which includes the famed Pinehurst.<\/p>\n

His Instagram includes a series of bleak watercolors and black and white sketches, most appearing to show Quail Ridge Golf Course, roughly 15-20 miles north of his home in Cameron.<\/p>\n

The gun retrieved after Martin was fatally shot by the Secret Service. PBSO<\/p>\n

The posts are accompanied by sparse electronic music and have almost zero social media intraction.<\/p>\n

Investigators haven\u2019t said whether Martin was previously known to law enforcement.<\/p>\n

Authorities have urged nearby residents in south Florida to check their security cameras for any footage that may show him.<\/p>\n

Martin pictured with his family members Josh, Jacob and Melissa (left to right). Facebook\/Melissa Martin<\/p>\n

He was shot after he failed to drop the shotgun and gas can when he entered the inner perimeter of President Trump\u2019s Florida estate.<\/p>\n

Martin reportedly drove into the gates of Mar-a-Lago as another vehicle was leaving.The president is yet to respond officially to Sunday\u2019s incident, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the Secret Service\u2019s quick thinking in a post on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe United States Secret Service acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person, armed with a gun and a gas canister, who intruded President Trump\u2019s home,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n

Martin was reported missing by his family on Saturday. Facebook\/Debi Dennis Messer<\/p>\n

She also used the post to slam the \u201creckless\u201d actions of the Democrats who\u00a0triggered a partial government shutdown<\/a>\u00a0affecting the Homeland Security department since Feb. 14.<\/p>\n

\u201cFederal law enforcement are working 24\/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans. It\u2019s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department,\u201d Leavitt said.<\/p>\n

FBI Director Kash Patel said that the bureau would be \u201cdedicating all necessary resources\u201d to the investigation, in a post on X.<\/p>\n

It comes just five days after a\u00a0Georgia man armed with a shotgun was arrested<\/a>\u00a0outside the US Capitol as he sprinted towards the west side of the building.<\/p>\n

Martin was shot after he failed to drop the shotgun and gas can he was carrying. Facebook\/Melissa Martin<\/p>\n

The incident at Mar-a-Lago took place just a few miles from Trump\u2019s West Palm Beach club, where\u00a0Ryan Routh tried to assassinate the president<\/a>\u00a0while he played golf during the 2024 election.<\/p>\n

Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent aiming a rifle through the shrubbery before Trump came into view.<\/p>\n

He was arrested after being incapacitated by officials and found guilty last year.<\/p>\n

Routh was sentenced to life in prison<\/a>\u00a0earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Also in 2024, President Trump survived an\u00a0assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler<\/a>, Pennsylvania, when gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight shots, grazing the president\u2019s ear and killing an attendee before he was taken out by Secret Service counter sniper.<\/p>\n

With Post wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The crazed gunman who was\u00a0shot dead after trying to enter Mar-a-Lago\u00a0with a shotgun and a gas can has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":141976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[153,5970,10123,9,11,10,19031,9302,3980,58],"class_list":{"0":"post-141975","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-donald-trump","9":"tag-fbi","10":"tag-mar-a-lago","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-headlines","13":"tag-new-york-news","14":"tag-palm-beach","15":"tag-secret-service","16":"tag-shootings","17":"tag-us-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}