The man was reported by the Secret Service's bodyguard force to have been armed with a rifle and a gasoline can when he tried to enter the heavily guarded area.
When the man was discovered, he was asked to drop the rifle and the gasoline can he was allegedly carrying. When he instead pointed the rifle at two members of the security force guarding the area, they shot him. No one else was injured in the incident.
The man was between 20 and 30 years old and white, Sheriff Ric Bradshaw of West Palm Beach said at a press conference.
The possible motive for the killing is not known, nor is it known whether he had accomplices.
"There remains a long investigation," Bradshaw said.
Neither Donald Trump nor his wife Melania was at Mar-a-Lago, or in Florida, at the time. They both attended a White House dinner on Saturday night and the president will work in the Oval Office on Sunday afternoon, according to the White House.
In September 2024, when Trump was a presidential candidate, a 58-year-old man tried to shoot Trump while he was playing golf on his course a few miles from Mar-a-Lago. The man never managed to fire his gun. He was sentenced to life in prison earlier in February.
Two months earlier, a 20-year-old man fired eight shots at the then-presidential candidate during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump was hit in the ear. A person in the audience was hit and died from his injuries.
