Feb. 22, 2026 — Palm Beach, Fla. U.S. Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County Sheriff’s deputy fatally shot 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin from North Carolina after he breached the secure perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort around 1:30 a.m. ET, carrying a shotgun and gas canister and raising the weapon when ordered to drop it. President Trump was at the White House in Washington, D.C., at the time.
Martin drove through the north gate as another vehicle exited and was confronted inside the grounds by two agents and the deputy, according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. Ordered to drop his items, Martin set down the gas can but “raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” prompting the officers to fire and neutralize the threat, Bradshaw said at a briefing.
“[The gunman] raised the shotgun to a shooting position. The two Secret Service agents and the deputy ‘fired their weapons to neutralize the threat.’”
The FBI is investigating the incident, including Martin’s motive, gun purchase and a recent missing person report filed by family in Moore County, North Carolina. Investigators believe he left the state, acquired the shotgun en route—with its box found in his vehicle—and headed south. A psychological profile is being compiled, and the FBI is seeking neighbor security footage.
File photo of Mar-a-Lago by AP/Steve Helber, via Police1.
Relatives described Martin, who lived with his mother near Cameron, North Carolina, worked as a groundskeeper and drew pen illustrations for sale, as apolitical and gun-averse from a Trump-supporting family. His cousin, Braeden Fields, said Martin grew up with him, had a brother in the military and lost a sister in a car crash.
“He wouldn’t even hurt an ant. He doesn’t even know how to use a gun.” “I wouldn’t believe he would do something like this. It’s mind-blowing.” “We are big Trump supporters, all of us. Everybody,” but he was “real quiet, never really talked about anything.”
— Braeden Fields, Martin’s cousin
Martin had no prior law enforcement record, officials said. The Secret Service confirmed agents wore body cameras. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the “quick and decisive” action on social media.
