Secret Service kills shotgun-wielding man at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago after he broke through security perimeter

The Secret Service and local cops gunned down a shotgun-wielding madman who broke into President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club early Sunday.

Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Cameron, North Carolina, sneaked into the secure perimeter around the club by driving through a gate while another vehicle was coming out, authorities said.

Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time. On Saturday night, he and first lady Melania hosted the Governors’ Dinner at the White House.

When cops found Tucker Martin around 1:30 a.m., he was carrying a shotgun and a gas can.

He was “ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with them,” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw told reporters during a press conference Sunday.

“At which time he put down the gas can, and raised the shotgun to a shooting position.”

That’s when federal agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy “neutralized the threat.”

A box for the shotgun was discovered in Martin’s vehicle following the shooting, which took place at around 1:30 a.m., according to Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.

According to his social media, Martin’s family was frantically looking for him after he disappeared on Saturday night.

Tucker Martin’s social media shows that he was obsessed with drawing scenes from the golf courses in the Sandhills region — an area popular for its rolling, pine-shrouded links, including Pinehurst No. 2.

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.

The posts are accompanied by sparse electronic music and have almost zero social media interaction.

Martin appears to have a prior criminal arrest. His older sister died in 2023 in a crash with a truck, also at age 21.

Authorities have urged nearby residents in South Florida to check their security cameras for any footage that may show him.

The president is yet to respond officially to Sunday’s incident, but White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt praised the Secret Service’s quick thinking in a post on X.

“The 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’s home,” she wrote.

She also used the post to slam the “reckless” actions of the Democrats who triggered a partial government shutdown affecting the Homeland Security department since Feb. 14.

“Federal law enforcement are working 24/7 to keep our country safe and protect all Americans. It’s shameful and reckless that Democrats have chosen to shut down their Department,” Leavitt said.

FBI Director Kash Patel said that the bureau would be “dedicating all necessary resources” to the investigation, in a post on X.

It comes just five days after a Georgia man armed with a shotgun was arrested outside the US Capitol as he sprinted toward the west side of the building.

The incident at Mar-a-Lago took place just a few miles from Trump’s West Palm Beach club, where Ryan Routh tried to assassinate the president while he played golf during the 2024 election.

Routh was spotted by a Secret Service agent aiming a rifle through the shrubbery before Trump came into view.

He was arrested after being incapacitated by officials and found guilty last year.

Routh was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.

Also in 2024, President Trump survived an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, when gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight shots, grazing the president’s ear and killing an attendee before he was taken out by Secret Service counter sniper.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent blasted Democrats and accused them of fueling attempted political violence against Trump in the wake of the most recent Mar-a-Lago security scare.

“This venom coming from the other side,” Bessent told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” “We don’t know whether this person was a mastermind, unhinged, or what, but they are normalizing this violence. It’s got to stop.”

With Post wires