The armed man who was shot and killed by Secret Service agents after entering the secured perimeter of President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Sunday morning was angry about the Jeffrey Epstein files, according to co-workers and a text message obtained by TMZ.
The man, identified as 21-year-old Austin Tucker Martin of North Carolina, sent a message to a co-worker on February 15 where he said “evil is real and unmistakable” while referring to the files, TMZ reported.
He also wrote: ”The best people like you and I can do is use what little influence we have. Tell other people about what you hear about the Epstein files and what the government is doing about it. Raise awareness,” according to the message obtained by the outlet.
According to TMZ, Martin’s co-workers at Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club said he became fixated on Epstein after the Justice Department’s latest release of records from its investigative files on the late convicted sex offender. They said Martin, who TMZ reported was a Trump supporter, was disturbed by what he viewed as a government cover-up and regularly spoke about powerful people “getting away with it.”
Newsweek has not independently verified the contents of the text message or the accounts provided by Martin’s co-workers to TMZ.
Martin was confronted by two Secret Service agents and a Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy near the north gate of the property holding what officials described as a shotgun and gas canister.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said Martin was ordered to drop the items. He put down the gas canister but “raised the shotgun to a shooting position,” Bradshaw said at a brief press conference on Sunday.
The two agents and the deputy “fired their weapons to neutralize the threat.”
This is a developing story. More to follow.