What we learn about ‘quiet’ North Carolina artist shot and killed for armed Mar-a-Lago break-in | EUROtoday

A North Carolina man was fatally shot early Sunday as he allegedly tried to enter President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

Austin Tucker Martin, 21, was allegedly armed with a shotgun and a gasoline canister when he encountered two Secret Service brokers and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy simply inside Mar-a-Lago’s north gate round 1:30 a.m. The president and first girl had been in Washington, D.C., on the time.

The officers ordered Martin to place down the gear, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw instructed reporters Sunday. Martin then lowered the canister however “raised the shotgun to a shooting position.”

“At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons,” the sheriff stated.

Family members had reported Martin lacking over the weekend and had been surprised by the information.

Here’s what we all know in regards to the alleged gunman.

‘He wouldn’t even damage an ant’

Those who knew Martin had been shocked to study of the break-in and capturing.

“He’s a good kid,” his cousin, Braeden Fields, instructed the Associated Press. “I wouldn’t believe he would do something like this. It’s mind-blowing.”

“He wouldn’t even hurt an ant,” Fields added. “He doesn’t even know how to use a gun.”

Fields described Martin’s household as a gaggle of “avid Trump supporters” and stated the 21-year-old was “real quiet, never really talked about anything.” Martin labored at a neighborhood golf course, Fields added.

Martin, who graduated in 2023 from Union Pines High School in Cameron, was listed in voting data as unaffiliated with a political social gathering, in line with paperwork obtained by the The News & Observer.

Last 12 months, Martin began a enterprise making handmade drawings of golf programs.

“Fresh Sky Illustrations is an artwork company that mainly focuses on bringing to life the hopeful feeling of being on a golf course by illustrating golf course scenes and providing framed copies of handmade works in various golf course gift shops while handling personal commissions on the side,” an internet site for the endeavor reads.

Brandon Huneycutt, head golf skilled on the Quail Ridge Golf Course in Sanford, North Carolina, instructed The News & Observer he briefly met Martin a number of years in the past and allowed him to make use of a golf cart and see components of the course.

“I guess he took pictures of them, and he went home and actually hand-drew the pictures,” Huneycutt stated. “They’re pretty good pieces.”

A automotive discovered close to Mar-a-Lago is considered Martin’s silver Volkswagen. Inside, police discovered a field that appeared to have been carrying Martin’s shotgun.

Investigators imagine Martin picked up the weapon as he headed south for Florida, in line with Anthony Guglielmi, a spokesman for the Secret Service.

The FBI is main the investigation.

A string of threats close to Trump and Mar-a-Lago

Trump and his properties have confronted a string of safety threats for the reason that 2024 marketing campaign season.

A gunman, who was later killed, grazed the Republican with a bullet throughout a rally in Pennsylvania in July 2024.

Ryan Wesley Routh, 59, tried to kill Trump close to Mar-a-Lago later that 12 months, pointing a rifle via a fence bordering the Trump International Golf Club, in line with federal prosecutors.

Earlier this month, Routh was sentenced to life in federal jail.

Routh has filed an enchantment difficult his conviction and sentence, in line with courtroom paperwork.