A man armed with a rifle and a gasoline can unlawfully entered the security perimeter of Donald Trump’s residence at Mar–a-Lago in Florida late Sunday night and was shot and killed by agents of the U.S. Secret Service.

Trump was in Washington, D.C..

“An armed man was shot and killed (…) after unlawfully breaching the security perimeter of Mar-a-Lago early in the morning,” Anthony Guglielmi, spokesperson for the United States Secret Service — the agency responsible for protecting senior political figures in the U.S. — announced via X.

“At approximately 1:30 a.m., a man about 20 years old (…) was spotted near the north entrance of the Mar-a-Lago property carrying what appeared to be a rifle and a gasoline can,” he clarified.

After confronting the man, agents fired multiple shots, he explained.

During a brief press conference later, security forces walked back the description of a confrontation.

“The only words we addressed to him were ‘drop whatever you’re holding,’ namely the gasoline can and the rifle,” said Palm Beach County Sheriff Rick Bradshaw.

“At that moment he dropped the can and raised the weapon into a firing position,” and “then” a Palm Beach County police officer and Secret Service agents “opened fire and neutralized the threat.”

The suspect “died at the scene.” No officers were injured.

Security forces provided no further information about the suspect’s identity but showed a photograph of the rifle during the press conference.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) asked area residents to review footage recorded by their external security cameras.

Donald Trump was the target of two assassination attempts during his 2024 presidential campaign.

In July 2024, a bullet grazed his ear at a rally in Pennsylvania. One attendee was killed.

Two months later, he was targeted at a golf course in Florida.

The Secret Service faced sharp criticism on both occasions.

The United States has more privately owned firearms than residents: one in three adults owns at least one gun, and one in two adults lives in a household where there is at least one firearm.