Armed man shot and killed at Mar-a-Lago was never interested in politics or guns, cousin says

CAMERON, N.C. (AP) 鈥� The 21-year-old North Carolina man who at President Donald Trump鈥檚 Mar-a-Lago resort with a shotgun before he was shot and killed worked as a golf course groundskeeper and liked to sketch.

Austin Tucker Martin rarely, if ever, talked about politics, seemed afraid of guns, and came from a family of Trump supporters, according to Braeden Fields, a cousin who said the two grew up together.

鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 believe he would do something like this. It鈥檚 mind-blowing,鈥� Fields said. 鈥淗e wouldn鈥檛 even hurt an ant. He doesn鈥檛 even know how to use a gun.鈥�

Martin walked up to the secure perimeter at Mar-a-Lago early Sunday and went through a gate when it opened for employees to leave, a U.S. Secret Service spokesperson said Monday. Martin dropped a gas can and raised a shotgun at two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff鈥檚 deputy who then opened fire “to neutralize the threat,鈥� said Sheriff Ric Bradshaw.

Trump, who often spends weekends at the Palm Beach, Florida, resort, was at the White House at the time.

Investigators have not identified a motive. Trump faced two during the 2024 campaign, including one just a few miles (kilometers) from Mar-a-Lago when a man was spotted through shrubbery while Trump was golfing.

Following Sunday’s incident, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said investigators believe Martin bought his shotgun while driving to Florida. Authorities said his family had recently reported him missing.

Martin was from central North Carolina, where guns and hunting are a part of life, his cousin said. But whenever they’d go hunting or target shooting, Martin would never pick up a gun, Fields told The Associated Press on Sunday.

He lived with his mother in a modest modular house down a rutted sandy road near the town of Cameron. No one answered the door Monday, and the large police presence from the day before was gone.

Martin鈥檚 sister was just 21 when she was killed in a car accident in 2023, and he has an older brother who鈥檚 in the military, Fields said.

For the past three years, Martin worked as a groundskeeper at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club.

鈥淚t鈥檚 tragic. I feel for his family,鈥� said Kelly Miller, president of the course in nearby Southern Pines. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just unfortunate what transpired. It was totally unexpected.鈥�

Martin last year started a business to sell pen drawings he made, according to state records. A website matching the company name features illustrations of golf courses, buildings and ancient Roman architecture.

Politics didn鈥檛 seem to be among his interests, his cousin said

鈥淲e are big Trump supporters, all of us. Everybody,鈥� Fields said, but his cousin was 鈥渞eal quiet, never really talked about anything.鈥�

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This story was corrected to show that the suspect walked through the gate and didn’t drive through it.

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Associated Press reporters Michelle L. Price in Washington, Ali Swenson in New York, Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.