During an FBI raid on Wednesday, 75 year old Craig Robertson, who had previously posted violent threats against President Joe Biden and other officials online, was shot and killed. The raid occurred as agents were executing an arrest warrant at Robertson’s Utah residence.
According to a criminal complaint, Robertson had used Facebook to issue threats against President Biden and a prosecutor involved in pursuing criminal charges against former President Donald Trump. The nature of the threats included pictures of firearms and explicit intentions to harm President Biden and Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney overseeing an investigation into a hush-money payment by Trump to an adult film star.
The FBI has chosen not to release further details regarding the incident.
The raid took place at around 06:15 local time in Provo, which is situated about 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City. The criminal complaint outlined a series of concerning messages posted by Robertson on Facebook, encompassing violent imagery and threats aimed at various public figures, including US Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
One particularly alarming post from Robertson read: “I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle.” This message was among numerous violent messages and images of weaponry shared on Robertson’s two Facebook accounts.
The criminal complaint revealed that federal agents became aware of Robertson in March after he issued a threat against Mr. Bragg on Truth Social, a social network owned by Donald Trump. The platform subsequently alerted the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center. When FBI agents initially approached Robertson, he referred to his threat as a “dream” and abruptly terminated the conversation with the statement: “We’re done here! Don’t return without a warrant!”
Robertson later made social media posts depicting himself in sniper camouflage and continued to issue threats against public officials. His messages persisted until Tuesday, when he posted, “Perhaps Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the Marxist.”
President Biden was scheduled to embark on his first visit to Utah as president on Thursday, with plans including a visit to a veterans’ hospital and participation in a fundraising event in Park City.
