The FBI released a statement on Monday providing more information about last week’s fatal shooting of a Utah man during an early morning raid.
“The FBI continues to review an agent-involved shooting which occurred around 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday, August 9, 2023 in Provo, Utah. The incident began when special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants on 75-year-old Craig Deeleuw Robertson at his home for threats to elected officials and law enforcement officers,” the statement said. “Robertson resisted arrest and as agents attempted to take him into custody, he pointed a .357 revolver at them. The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force officers seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division."
Robertson had made “detailed and specific threats” on social media to the president, who was set to arrive in Utah the day he was fatally shot. He urged fellow residents to shoot into the air when Air Force One was set to arrive and wondered whether Utah would become known “as the place a sniper took out Biden the Marxist,” according to Deseret News.
Biden wasn’t the only one Robertson threatened, however. Other online posts targeted California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Merrick Garland, Vice President Kamala Harris, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Witnesses told Deseret News that agents were not able to break down Robertson’s door so they used a breaching vehicle to get through a window. After that, gunshots rang out and agents began yelling, “Shots fired!”
“They were all shooting at the same time,” the neighbor said.
Agents carried Robertson out of the home and tried to render first aid on the sidewalk.
In a statement, Robertson's family said they were “shocked and devastated by the senseless and tragic killing of our beloved father and brother.”
“He was understandably frustrated and distraught by the present and ongoing erosions to our constitutionally protected freedoms and the rights of free citizens wrought by what he — and many others in this nation — observed to be a corrupt and overreaching government,” the family said.
“Craig loved this country with all his heart. He saw it as a God-inspired and God-blessed land of liberty. He was understandably frustrated and distraught by the present and on-going erosions to our constitutionally protected freedoms and the rights of free citizens wrought by what he, and many others in this nation, observed to be a corrupt and overreaching government," the statement added. “Though his statements were intemperate at times, he has never, and would never, commit any act of violence against another human being over a political or philosophical disagreement."