The US Secret Service shot and killed an armed intruder who breached the perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump’s Florida residence and private club in Palm Beach, early on Sunday.
Although the US president often spends weekends at the oceanfront resort, he was at the White House in Washington during this incident, as was first lady Melania Trump.
At a press conference on Sunday morning, Ric Bradshaw, the sheriff of Palm Beach county, said two Secret Service agents and one of his deputies went to the north gate of the property at about 1.30am ET after a security detail alerted them that a person was within an inner perimeter.
There, they confronted a white male carrying a shotgun and a gasoline can, Bradshaw said.
“He was ordered to drop those two pieces of equipment that he had with him, at which time he put down the gas can [and] raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” the sheriff said.
“At that point in time, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents fired their weapons and neutralized the threat. He is deceased at the scene.”
Bradshaw said none of the law enforcement personnel were injured, and was unable to say if the man’s shotgun was loaded. He distributed to reporters a photograph of the shotgun and fuel canister.
He did not identify the intruder, and answered “not right now” when a journalist asked if the person was previously known to law enforcement.
The incident took place just inside Mar-a-Lago’s main entrance gate on South Ocean Boulevard, the coastal Atlantic road that remained closed to traffic on Sunday morning. The gate at the north end of the sprawling estate opens to a driveway leading directly to the main building’s entrance lobby.
The Trump family’s private quarters are in a separate building on the other side of the resort and the president has visited Mar-a-Lago most weekends during the winter season. More widely it operates as a private members’ club for the wealthy elite of Palm Beach society and it is also common for Trump to host world leaders and political operatives and events there, and he is a frequent glad-handing presence among dinner guests.
Separately, the Secret Service said the suspect was in his early 20s and from North Carolina. He was reported missing a few days ago by his family.
Investigators believe he left North Carolina and headed south, picking up a shotgun along the way, Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.
The box for the gun was recovered in his vehicle, Guglielmi said. The man drove through the north gate of Mar-a-Lago as another vehicle was exiting, and he was confronted by Secret Service agents and was fatally shot.
Investigators are now working to compile a psychological profile and uncover a motive.
Brett Skiles, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Miami field office, told the press conference that the bureau’s evidence response team was processing the site of the shooting and collecting evidence, and would “continue to work the scene for as long as it takes”.
Skiles asked residents who live near the sprawling resort on the exclusive Palm Beach island to check exterior cameras for any footage from Saturday night or early Sunday for “anything that looks suspicious or out of place”.
Sunday’s episode has parallels with a 2019 incident in which a Chinese woman carrying multiple cellphones and a computer thumb drive bearing malware gained access to the main lobby of Mar-a-Lago, having evaded security.
That was one of a number of incidents during Trump’s first term in office that drew accusations of lax security at the club, which he has often called his “winter White House”.
In July, 2024, Trump was wounded during an assassination attempt as he spoke at a rally for supporters in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the presidential election campaign. A bullet grazed his ear and some spectators were killed.
Then on 15 September of the same year a man with a rifle was captured after waiting near Trump’s golf course in West Palm Beach while the president played a round. He appeared to be pointing the weapon through a perimeter fence. He was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
Last Wednesday, police in Washington arrested a man from Georgia who was armed with a loaded shotgun and sprinted towards the west side of the US Capitol building.
The White House did not immediately respond on Sunday to a message seeking comment.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press
