The US Secret Service say they have killed a man after he was caught entering the secure perimeter of Donald Trump's Florida residence Mar-a-Lago.
The BBC reports that the man was shot and killed at around 1:30am local time this morning (22 February) and that he was spotted with what appeared to be a shotgun and a can of fuel.
Neither Trump nor his wife Melania were in the residence at the time, with the US president currently staying in Washington DC at the White House as officials confirmed there were 'no Secret Service protectees present at the location at the time of the incident'.
The man who was shot dead was in his 20s, the Secret Service have said, but his identity has not been disclosed before his next of kin have been notified.
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The FBI, US Secret Service and Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office are all investigating the matter.
The man was identified as a 'white man' who when spotted was ordered to put down what he was carrying, as Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said after the order to 'drop the items' was given.
The man who made it 'just inside the inner perimeter' of Mar-A-Lago put down the fuel can but 'raised the shotgun to a shooting position' at which point he was shot dead to 'neutralise the threat'.
Two agents were involved with the shooting, they have both been placed on leave pending investigation as is routine in cases where a fatal shooting occurs.
No law enforcement officials were injured in the incident, and Sheriff Bradshaw said there was 'a lot more investigation to be done' into the matter, he added that the number of shots fired and whether the man's weapon was loaded are to be looked into.
The FBI has requested that members of the public who had possible information about the incident provide it to them.
Trump has been targeted by shooters before, with him being shot at by a man at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, during the 2024 election campaign.
On that occasion Secret Service agents bundled Trump to the ground and rushed him to the car, with the gunman later identified as 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks who was shot dead at the scene after opening fire.
Another gunman who targeted Trump a couple of months later was Ryan Wesley Routh who was pursued from a golf course when he was around 300 to 500 yards away from Trump when his gun barrel was spotted.
Though he fled the scene he was later arrested, and earlier this month he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Topics: Donald Trump, US News, Crime
Joe Harker