An armed 21-year-old man with a shotgun and a gas can entered the perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida on Sunday. After he was shot and killed, Sen. Marsha Blackburn spoke about how “rhetoric matters.”
According to the U.S. Secret Service, around 1:30 a.m. ET,. Trump was in Washington, D.C. At the time, the suspect (identified as Austin T. Martin of Cameron, North Carolina) was at the north gate of Mar-a-Lago. When told to drop the items, he put down the fuel can, but allegedly held the shotgun in a firing position. That is why, as Sheriff Ric Bradshaw described it, agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy opened fire to “[neutralize] the threat.” No law enforcement officers were injured.
It is not confirmed if the shotgun was loaded, but as of now, the FBI is helping with the investigation. Martin’s Trump-supporting family reported him missing earlier that morning in North Carolina, according to Moore County officials.
BREAKING: The man killed trying to enter Mar-a-Lago with a shotgun was a white, Christian Trump supporter.
Not trans. Not a Democrat. Not an immigrant.
He believed in Trump and was crushed by an economy that left him desperate.
That’s the real story.
H/t @krassenstein pic.twitter.com/C7X9cXANvW
— Brian Allen (@allenanalysis) February 23, 2026
On Fox News, Marsha Blackburn described the episode as part of a pattern.
“This is the third time we have seen an attempt on President Trump’s life,” she said. Blackburn referenced the 2024 shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, where Trump was wounded in the ear, and a plot at Trump International Golf Club. The senator also said she was grateful Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago on Sunday and praised the “swift reaction” of the authorities.
Blackburn then said:
“It is also a reminder that rhetoric matters. This [along] with the Trump derangement syndrome and villainizing the president (…) people should think twice before they speak in that manner.”
Similarly, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox Business that the left was “normalizing” political violence.
Blackburn also questions whether senators will ask federal authorities how the suspect was able to reach the perimeter. What did the missing-person report from his family include? Was mental illness a factor? And what security differences exist when the president is not physically present at his residence?
Security at Mar-a-Lago includes an outer cordon maintained by Palm Beach County deputies and an inner perimeter controlled by the Secret Service. Visitors are screened, and vehicles are swept. So how an armed man got close enough to trigger gunfire will likely be scrutinized, even if agents finally stopped him before anyone was harmed.
Gunman shot dead at Mar-a-Lago was ‘obsessed with Epstein cover up,’ came from family of ‘avid Trump supporters’https://t.co/EKIwITf5rf
— Morgan J. Freeman (@mjfree) February 23, 2026
Blackburn also notes that the Department of Homeland Security is operating during a partial government shutdown, which may have led to the armed man entering Mar-a-Lago. She thus also criticized Democrats, as this was the third DHS shutdown during the current Congress. While Secret Service and ICE funding are secure, she said, TSA, FEMA and other DHS components are strained.
In the past year, the U.S. has also seen more political violence, like the arson attacks on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, and the fatal shooting of a Democratic lawmaker, Melissa Hortman, in Minnesota.
