Warning: The following story includes references to violence and might be disturbing to some readers. Viewer discretion is advised.
United States President Donald Trump took a humorous approach when offering his first remarks regarding Sunday’s fatal Secret Service–involved shooting at Mar-a-Lago.
Secret Service agents shot and killed Austin Tucker Martin, a 21-year-old from North Carolina, who entered Mar-a-Lago with a gun and a gas can. Martin reportedly refused to drop the weapon.
Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago during the incident. He was instead in Washington, D.C., for the Governors Ball. However, he previously survived two assassination attempts in 2024, including at a July 2024 rally when his upper-right ear was grazed by a bullet.
“You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents,” Trump said on Monday. “They don’t go after non-consequential presidents.”
Trump:
You read about all these crazy shooters, but they only go after consequential presidents. They don’t go after non-consequential presidents, you know?
If you take a look—Abraham Lincoln, some big, some big one. John Kennedy, in a certain way, was very consequential. He… pic.twitter.com/RaB9t4coac
— Clash Report (@clashreport) February 23, 2026
Trump then invoked Abraham Lincoln and John F. Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated while in office.
“They said they only go after consequential,” Trump argued. “So maybe I want to be a little bit less consequential. Can we hold it back a little bit, please, … Can we just, like, nice and easy? Could this be a normal president for a little while?”
Lincoln, Kennedy, James A. Garfield, and William McKinley are the four presidents assassinated while in office. Ronald Reagan survived an assassination attempt in 1981, his first year in office. Trump and Theodore Roosevelt (1912) were wounded in assassination attempts while campaigning after leaving office.
TMZ reported on Sunday that Martin, who came from a family of Trump supporters, had grown “increasingly obsessed” with the Jeffrey Epstein files. Trump has not been charged with any crimes related to Epstein.
The armed man shot and killed by Secret Service agents outside President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property Sunday had grown increasingly obsessed with the Epstein files and was also a vocal supporter of Trump … TMZ has learned.
Read more: https://t.co/z0qADfmNSU pic.twitter.com/zZYXKnRNU9
— TMZ (@TMZ) February 23, 2026
Martin also reportedly sent a text message to a coworker about the Epstein files, writing that “evil is real and unmistakable.” The United States Department of Justice has already released 3.5 million pages of evidence and identified six million total pages.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Martin’s 19-year-old cousin, Braeden Fields, called the situation “mind-blowing.” Fields also shared that Martin worked at a golf course and sent money from his paychecks to charity.
“He wouldn’t even hurt an ant,” Fields said. “He doesn’t even know how to use a gun.”
Although Fields said that he and his family are Trump supporters, he noted that Martin typically did not discuss politics. Fields described his cousin as “real quiet, never really talked about anything.”
Further information regarding Martin is expected to emerge within the coming days.
