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The 21-year-old man who was shot and killed after having entered Donald Trump’s Florida resort on Sunday – while carrying a shotgun – came from a North Carolina family of the president’s supporters and had reportedly become increasingly fixated on the so-called Jeffrey Epstein files.
The focus of the FBI’s investigation into the intrusion attributed to Austin Tucker Martin is tightening on his movements and motives. Martin was confronted by Secret Service agents and a local sheriff’s deputy inside the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago and killed after he had raised a shotgun into the shooting position at about 1.30am on Sunday, law enforcement said.
Martin was a recent high school graduate who is believed to have driven down to Florida from his home in North Carolina on Saturday afternoon, obtaining the weapon en route. The New York Times reported that last year he set up his own company, Fresh Sky Illustrations, trading in original drawings of golf courses that were sold through golf course gift shops and on commission.
TMZ reported that Martin had grown increasingly obsessed with Epstein – a former friend of Trump and many other powerful people – after the recent release of files connected to the prosecution of the sex offender and disgraced financier. The website said that it had obtained a text message that he sent to a co-worker earlier in February.
According to TMZ, the text said: “I don’t know if you read up on the Epstein Files, but evil is real and unmistakable … Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness.”
The illustrator came from Cameron, North Carolina, where his relatives described him as quiet and generally opposed to guns. Martin’s cousin told the Associated Press that the family was staunchly pro-Trump.
“We are big Trump supporters, all of us,” Braeden Fields said. “Everybody.” He added, though, that Marin tended not to talk about politics.
Fields said Martin would regularly send a portion of his monthly paycheck to charity – and he had difficulty fathoming what authorities say his cousin had done on Sunday.
Martin’s family appear to have become alarmed by his disappearance over the weekend, posting on Facebook that he was missing. A missing person’s report was entered into a national database after the Moore county sheriff’s office in North Carolina received a report from a relative early on Sunday morning.
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend and has so far not commented on the incident. He was the subject of two assassination attempts during the 2024 presidential campaign, one of which occurred at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach just a few miles from Mar-a-Lago.
Ryan Routh, who was spotted in September 2024 aiming a rifle through shrubbery close to where the president was playing golf, was convicted and recently sentenced to life in prison.
The White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, posted a statement on the latest incident on X on Sunday, alluding to how Martin had a gasoline canister on him as well.
She wrote in part: “In the middle of the night while most Americans were asleep, the United States Secret Service acted quickly and decisively to neutralize a crazy person … who intruded President Trump’s home.”
