Secret Service kills armed intruder at Mar-a-Lago perimeter

U.S. Secret Service agents shot and killed an armed man early on Feb. 22 after he breached the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, officials said. Two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy confronted the man near the resort’s north gate at about 1:30 a.m., and he was declared dead at the scene, authorities said.

Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said the man “was observed by the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a shotgun and a fuel can.” Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw described the encounter in more detail, saying the officers ordered the man to “drop the items,” meaning the gas can and the shotgun. Bradshaw said the man put down the gas can and then “raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” at which point officers fired to “neutralise the threat,” he said. No law-enforcement officers were injured.

The FBI has taken over the investigation, collecting evidence at the scene, and the Secret Service and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office are also reviewing the incident, officials said. Politico reported that the agents involved would be placed on administrative leave while the inquiry proceeds. The Secret Service told reporters it was withholding the man’s identity until his family could be notified.

Local and national media offered differing accounts about the suspect’s identity. Reuters published a summary noting the man as a 21-year-old from North Carolina. A Queen City News local report named him as Austin Martin and said FBI agents were at a Moore County, N.C., home where relatives reported him missing around the time of the shooting; those local details have not been confirmed by federal authorities. The BBC reported that officers described the suspect as white and in his early 20s but noted the identity had not been released.

The White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on social media, saying in part, “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,” language officials attributed to her in news reports. The president was in Washington, D.C., at the time, officials said.

The shooting draws renewed attention to a pattern of threats against high-profile targets and to questions about how individuals obtain weapons and travel to sites of political significance. Reuters and Politico placed the episode in the context of what they described as rising political violence in recent years, and the New York Times noted that fatal encounters have been rare in the Secret Service’s roughly 160-year history.

Public health and community leaders said the episode also spotlights systemic gaps in mental health care and in preventive interventions around firearm access. Investigators are expected to determine the suspect’s motive and whether he acquired the weapon en route to Florida, as some local reports have suggested. Journalists and officials are seeking confirmation of identity, the precise route the man took onto the property, any surveillance or body-camera footage, and the full chronology of commands and responses.

Federal and local authorities said they would release more information as the FBI’s evidence collection and the joint investigations proceed. In the meantime, the shooting has left residents and officials grappling with both the immediate security implications for presidential sites and the longer-standing public health questions that underlie episodes of firearm violence.