Secret Service Shot Armed Man Who Breached the U.S. President’s Mar-a-Lago residence

AP

A Palm Beach county sheriff vehicle blocks traffic near Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's resort, on Sunday.

The U.S. Secret Service shot and killed an armed intruder who breached the perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, U.S. President Donald Trump’s Florida residence and private club in Palm Beach, early on Sunday.

Although the U.S. 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 1.30 am 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 neutralised 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.

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.

In July, 2024, President 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 President 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 U.S. Capitol building.

Sources: The Guardian, the Associated Press



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