Texts Show Man Killed at Mar-a-Lago Pressed Epstein “Cover-Up” Claim
Austin Tucker Martin, the 21-year-old North Carolina man shot and killed by U.S. Secret Service agents after breaching the perimeter of Mar-a-Lago, had grown increasingly fixated on the Jeffrey Epstein files in the days before the incident. Text messages obtained by multiple outlets show he was urging others to “raise awareness” about what he believed was a government “cover-up.”
The breach happened around 1:30 a.m. Sunday in Palm Beach, Florida, when Martin entered the secured grounds of Donald Trump’s resort armed with a shotgun and a fuel canister, according to Reuters. Trump was in Washington, D.C., at the time.
Authorities said Martin raised the firearm toward responding officers, prompting agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy to open fire. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and no agents were reported injured.
In text messages reviewed by outlets including KF YR and The Times of India, Martin referenced the so-called Epstein files and encouraged a co-worker to tell others about what he thought the government was hiding. “Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files … Raise awareness,” he wrote in a message dated Feb. 15.
Related: Secret Service Kills Armed Man Who Breached Mar-a-Lago Security Early Sunday
Friends and colleagues told reporters he had recently become “fixated” on the Epstein case and believed powerful figures were avoiding accountability.
Federal authorities, including the FBI and the Secret Service, have not confirmed a motive and say the investigation is ongoing.
Family members told The Associated Press that Martin was quiet, not deeply political, and inexperienced with guns, complicating assumptions about what drove him to travel from North Carolina to Florida.
Investigators are reviewing digital evidence and travel records to determine what led to the breach, with officials cautioning that it is too early to label the act as politically motivated.
For now, the emerging portrait of Martin raises questions that investigators say remain unanswered.
Related: Pro-Trump Podcaster Blasts Trump DOJ Over Epstein Files: “So Many Lies!”