Law enforcement officers shot and killed a 21-year-old man who breached Mar-a-Lago’s inner perimeter early morning. The individual was later identified as Austin Tucker Martin, a golf course artist from Cameron, North Carolina. President Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the shooting, which happened around 1:30 AM.
According to The New York Times, Martin was confronted by Secret Service agents and officers from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office inside the north gate of the Mar-a-Lago complex. Authorities said he was carrying what looked like a shotgun and a fuel canister. Officers told him to drop the items, but he only put down the canister. He was shot and killed after raising the shotgun into a “shooting position.”
Martin was a recent high school graduate who had started his own artwork company, Fresh Sky Illustrations, just last year. The business specialized in handmade drawings of golf courses, aiming to “bring to life the hopeful feeling of being on a golf course” through framed copies of his work in gift shops and personal commissions. He regularly posted his drawings on his personal X profile, with his last post on Thursday.
Martin’s family had reported him missing hours before the Mar-a-Lago incident
Family members, including his mother, Melissa Martin, had posted on social media throughout the weekend that Austin was missing. His aunt, Chrissie Fields, mentioned that he had left home at 1:00 PM, noting that this behavior was “not like him at all.” The Moore County, North Carolina, sheriff’s office reported him missing around 1:38 AM, right around the same time the Mar-a-Lago incident occurred.
Hours after the incident, around 7:00 AM, Melissa Martin was still posting on X, asking for help to “find my boy.” An hour later, she shared a poster with Austin’s picture and details about his car, a 2013 silver Volkswagen Tiguan. He had last been heard from at 7:51 PM on the previous day. Mar-a-Lago has drawn political attention in recent times, with figures like Marjorie Taylor Greene publicly criticizing certain activities inside the Trump property.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw later confirmed that a silver Volkswagen believed to be Martin’s was found near the scene, parked at Midtown Beach, a public area about a 30-minute walk from Mar-a-Lago. Bradshaw mentioned that a box that appeared to have carried the shotgun was found in the back seat, but authorities are not sure where Martin got the weapon.
Austin was a registered voter with an unaffiliated party status. His cousin, Braeden Fields, mentioned that Austin came from a family of “big Trump supporters.” Fields also added that Austin had worked at a local golf course and would send a portion of his paychecks to charity. The Trump circle has faced broader scrutiny lately, with JD Vance calling out the elite social circles surrounding Trump’s inner circle.
A sad detail from Austin’s past is that his sister, Caitlin Renea Martin, passed away in 2023 at the age of 21 due to a car accident. The sheriff’s office in Moore County, North Carolina, stated they had no prior record of interactions with Austin Martin.
Published: Feb 23, 2026 01:15 pm