The US Secret Service shot and killed an armed man early Sunday as he attempted to enter President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
According to the Secret Service, the suspect was carrying a shotgun and a gas canister when he breached the secure perimeter near the property’s north gate around 1:30 a.m. ET. Trump, who maintains a residence at the Palm Beach estate, was at the White House at the time of the incident.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw said at a press briefing that a deputy and two Secret Service agents responded after the man entered the restricted area.
“They confronted a white male who was carrying a gas can and a shotgun,” Bradshaw said. “He was ordered to drop the items. He put down the gas can but raised the shotgun into a shooting position.”
At that point, the deputy and the two Secret Service agents opened fire, fatally wounding the suspect. Authorities said the man was in his early 20s. His identity is being withheld pending notification of his family.
The FBI has launched an investigation into the shooting.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Secret Service “acted quickly and decisively” in response to the threat. She also criticized Democrats over the partial government shutdown, which has affected the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that oversees the Secret Service.
The Department of Homeland Security has been closed for more than a week amid a funding dispute. Democrats have called for changes to the department’s immigration enforcement practices before approving further funding, following the fatal shooting of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in Minneapolis.
The incident comes after previous threats against Trump. In July 2024, a gunman opened fire from a rooftop during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, before being killed by a Secret Service sniper.
Two months later, another suspect was arrested after allegedly lying in wait with a rifle outside a golf course where Trump was playing. He was later convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
