The gunman who was shot and killed by the Secret Service after breaching Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate late at night — while carrying a shotgun and a gas can — comes from a family marked by repeated personal tragedy. Austin Tucker Martin, 21, was the youngest of three siblings.
He lived with his parents in a $1.1 million home in Cameron and was known to friends by his middle name, Tucker. Before his fatal attempt to enter Mar-a-Lago, Martin had a prior criminal history. But beyond his own struggles, his family had already been through profound heartbreak. They were still reeling from a devastating loss two years back, the Daily Mail reported.
Family Tragedy
The family's ordeal began in the summer of 2023, when Tucker's older sister, Caitlin Martin, was killed in a tragic head-on car crash. "They've already lost one child a couple years ago in a terrible car accident and now to lose another is gonna be devastating to them," a family friend wrote on Sunday.
Caitlin, 21, was killed in a devastating head-on crash on U.S. Route 1 near Vass. Police said a Ford F-150 driven by a 17-year-old slammed into her vehicle at a dimly lit intersection around 8:30 p.m. on August 23, 2023, allegedly without the truck's headlights turned on.
The impact was so violent that Caitlin's Toyota 4Runner was thrown over a guardrail and into a ditch, The Pilot reported. She was rushed to the hospital but later died from her injuries. The teenage truck driver was treated for minor injuries and survived.
No charges were filed immediately after the crash, though the North Carolina Highway Patrol confirmed the collision was under investigation at the time.
"She loved her cats Meatball and 'Juice.' She was brave and adventurous, recently trying her hand at skateboarding which resulted in a broken wrist. She was greatly loved by her family and friends and we have all been blessed to have her for the short time she was with us."
Alarm spread quickly through the family when Melissa Martin realized her youngest son, known to everyone as Tucker, had vanished late Saturday night.
He had left home around 1 p.m. on February 21 and last checked in just before 8 p.m. What his family didn't know at the time was that Tucker was already on the road, driving roughly 700 miles toward Mar-a-Lago.
During the nearly ten-hour journey, investigators believe he stopped along the way to buy a shotgun, setting in motion the tragic events that followed.
No One Stopping Him
Panic quickly swept through the Cameron community as frantic messages and missing-person posters circulated, with friends of Melissa desperately trying to help locate her youngest son.
Heartbreakingly, Melissa was still resharing posts in hopes of finding Tucker, unaware that he had already been fatally shot hours earlier near the north gate of Mar-a-Lago.
Tucker's older brother, Jacob Cade Martin, 23, even made his first-ever Instagram post and story to spread the word about the search, writing simply, "That first post feeling." Jacob, who had been preparing to join the Army, is now the family's only surviving child.
The family's last photo together — a smiling group of five — was shared by Melissa on June 9, 2023, celebrating the boys' graduation from Union Pines High School. Just two months later, the family was shattered by tragedy when Caitlin was killed in a car crash. Tucker was later killed by Secret Service agents on February 22.
Law enforcement sources told the Daily Mail that Tucker had a criminal history, though specific details were not immediately available.
In the wake of Caitlin's death in 2023, a grieving Melissa created an Instagram account in her daughter's memory, dedicated to "spreading joy and positivity by hiding rocks around the world" — a small act of light born from unimaginable loss.
"This is my beautiful daughter Caitlin. AKA Caitybug. She loved parks and gardens. She loved animals. She was sweet to everyone and shy until you got to know her," Melissa wrote.
"She had a wicked sense of humor and loved unique and odd things. She loved fall and Halloween. She loved music and concerts and as little as she was, you'd find her in the mosh pit. She was fearless. She was adventurous. She was kind."
