Photo: Alamy
A man was shot and killed by law enforcement after allegedly breaching the secure perimeter around President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, early Sunday morning.
U.S. Secret Service announced that the 21-year-old man, identified as Austin Tucker Martin, of Cameron, N.C., allegedly attempted to enter the president’s home with a weapon.
The incident occurred around 1:30 AM Sunday morning when the suspect made an “unauthorized entry” at the resort, Fox News reported.
The perpetrator was seen near the north gate, supposedly carrying a shotgun and a fuel can.
Law enforcement confronted the man and told him to drop the items, but he only put down the fuel can and was shot and killed after raising the shotgun to a “shooting position,” authorities reported.
The suspect reportedly did not exchange any words with law enforcement.
No Secret Service agents or Palm Beach officers were injured. President Trump was also not in Florida when the shooting occurred.
The FBI, Secret Service, and Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are currently investigating the incident. No motive has been released yet, per Fox News.
It is possible that the suspect, Martin, drove from North Carolina to Florida on Sunday afternoon. At around 7:00 AM Sunday morning, hours after the shooting occurred, Martin’s mother, Melissa, posted to Facebook that her son was missing, according to the New York Times.
An hour later, she posted an image of a poster with a picture of her son and information about his car—a 2013 silver Volkswagen Tiguan, the Times reported. He was reportedly last heard from at 7:51 PM on Saturday.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said that the car found near the scene was believed to be Martin’s, and that there was a box lying in that could have been carrying the shotgun.
Police were reportedly seen surrounding a silver Volkswagen parked at Midtown Beach, the Times wrote, which is a public area around a 30-minute walk away from Mar-a-Lago.
This is a developing story.
