Austin Tucker Martin, the 21-year-old man who was shot and killed by Secret Service agents after he breached the boundary of U.S. President Donald Trump‘s Mar-a-Lago estate on Sunday, has been described as a non-political person in a family of avid Trump supporters.
Martin, from Cameron, N.C., was killed by the Secret Service at the north gate of the president’s South Florida home and appeared to be brandishing a shotgun when he entered the property, authorities said.
Braeden Fields, a cousin who grew up with Martin, told the Associated Press that the 21-year-old — who owned a small company called Fresh Sky Illustrations that specialized in drawing golf courses, buildings and ancient Roman architecture — rarely, if ever, talked about politics, seemed afraid of guns, and came from a family of Trump supporters.
The company’s website described the drawings as intending to combine “the aesthetics of the sunny outdoors, and the old digital aesthetics from the mid 2000s” to “awaken a sense of hope and comfort.”
“I wouldn’t believe he would do something like this. It’s mind-blowing,” Fields said.
“He wouldn’t even hurt an ant. He doesn’t even know how to use a gun,” he continued.
This image provided by the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, Sunday, Feb. 22, 2026, shows a weapon and gas can found after a 21-year-old man was shot and killed by authorities after entering the secure perimeter of Mar-a-Lago.
Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office via AP
Guns and hunting are a part of everyday life where Martin and his cousin are from, but whenever they’d go hunting or target shooting, Martin would never pick up a gun, Fields explained, adding that their family is “big Trump supporters,” but that his cousin was “real quiet, never really talked about anything.”
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Martin lived with his mother in a modest home near the town of Cameron. His sister was killed in 2023 in a car accident at the age of 21, and his older brother is in the military.
For the past three years, Martin was employed as a groundskeeper at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in North Carolina, close to his hometown.
“It’s tragic. I feel for his family,” Kelly Miller, president of the golf course, said. “It’s just unfortunate what transpired. It was totally unexpected.”
In the lead-up to his killing, Martin walked up to Mar-a-Lago’s secure perimeter early Sunday morning and entered on-foot through a gate when it opened for staff exiting, a Secret Service spokesperson said Monday.
Martin then dropped a jerrycan of gas and aimed a shotgun at two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy, who then opened fire “to neutralize the threat,” Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said.
An aerial shot of Mar-a-Lago.
Source: Google Earth Graphic by: Will Jarrett
Trump, who often spends weekends and holidays at the Palm Beach complex, was at the White House at the time of the incident.
Following Sunday’s incident, Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said investigators believe Martin purchased his shotgun on his drive to Florida.
Authorities said his family had recently reported him missing.
— With files from the Associated Press
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
