President Trump said Monday that people are “gunning for me” in the wake of an armed intruder being shot to death by Secret Service and a sheriff’s deputy over the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The president’s first public comments about the incident came at a White House event to honor the families of those killed by illegal immigrants. Mr. Trump survived two assassination attempts in 2024.
“I don’t know how long I’ll be around,” he told the audience in the East Room. “Got a lot of people gunning for me.”
“You know, if you read about all these crazy shooters, they don’t go after non-consequential presidents,” Mr. Trump said, referencing Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy, both of whom were assassinated.
“So maybe I want to be a little less consequential? Can we hold it back a little bit, please?” Mr. Trump joked. “Can this be a normal presidency for a little while?”
Austin Tucker Martin, 21, of Cameron, North Carolina, tried to sneak into Mar-a-Lago while carrying a shotgun and a gas can. Secret Service officers confronted him around 1:30 a.m. and ordered him to put down the gun and gas cannister, according to local law enforcement officials.
Martin put down the gas can but “raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” according to Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw. At that point, two Secret Service agents and the deputy opened fire, killing Martin.
The incident is under investigation and a motive has not been revealed.
Mr. Trump was not at Mar-a-Lago at the time of the incident and remained at the White House over the weekend.
In 2024, Ryan Routh tried to assassinate Mr. Trump just miles away from Mar-a-Lago at the president’s West Palm Beach golf club. Routh was stopped by Secret Service agents before he could carry out his threat and was sentenced to life in prison earlier this month.
Mr. Trump also survived a July 2024 assassination attempt during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Gunman Thomas Crooks fired eight shots, grazing the president’s ear and killing a firefighter in the audience before he was killed by a Secret Service sniper.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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