PALM BEACH, Fla. — Secret Service agents fatally shot Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old from North Carolina, just after 1:30 a.m. Sunday when he drove through the north gate of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort carrying a shotgun and a gas can.

Martin ignored orders to drop the items, raised the shotgun and was killed in a hail of gunfire from two agents and a sheriff’s deputy, Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said at a news conference. The deputy had spotted Martin’s vehicle acting suspiciously as it slipped past an exiting car at the gate.

Trump was not at the property. He and first lady Melania Trump spent Saturday night at the White House, according to officials. A Secret Service spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi, said investigators recovered the shotgun box from Martin’s car and believe he bought the weapon after leaving North Carolina. His family had reported him missing days earlier.

Sheriff Bradshaw said Martin had no known prior law enforcement record. The FBI is asking Mar-a-Lago neighbors to review security footage for leads. Agents are building a psychological profile as they probe his motive.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking on Fox News Sunday morning, blamed heated Democratic rhetoric for stoking dangers around Trump. “This existential threat from the venom on the left really has to stop,” Bessent said. He added that he had spoken with the president recently.

The clash marks the latest security scare at Trump’s properties. On July 13, 2024, a gunman wounded him at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Then on Sept. 15, 2024, authorities arrested Ryan Routh with a rifle near Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course as he played. A judge sentenced Routh to life in prison this month.

Political violence has surged across the U.S. Last year alone saw the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, the assassination of Minnesota state House Democratic leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, a shooting that wounded another lawmaker and his wife, and an arson attack at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence.

Five days before the Mar-a-Lago incident, U.S. Capitol Police arrested a Georgia man with a shotgun sprinting toward the Capitol’s west side.

Mar-a-Lago maintains tight security. Trump often visits on weekends, but records show he stayed in Washington this time. The resort, his private club and home, sits on 17 oceanfront acres in Palm Beach.