Man suspected of threatening Biden shot and killed
By Lindsay Whitehurst and Sam Metz
Salt Lake City: A Utah man accused of making threats against Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the US president was expected to land in the state, authorities said.
Special agents were trying to serve a warrant on the home of Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, when the shooting happened at 6.15am on Wednesday (US time), the FBI said in a statement.
A man accused of making threats against President Joe Biden was shot and killed by FBI agents hours before the president was expected to land in the state.Credit: AP
The shooting was under review by the FBI.
Robertson posted online Monday that he had heard Biden was coming to Utah and he was planning to dig out a camouflage suit and begin “cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle,” a post that came after months of graphic online threats against several public figures, according to court documents. Robertson referred to himself as a “MAGA Trumper,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
Neighbours described Robertson as a frail, elderly man – his online profile put his age as 74 – who walked with a hand-carved stick. Though he regularly carried guns, they said he didn’t seem a threat.
Court documents allege Robertson referenced a “presidential assassination” and also allege threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Attorney-General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney-General Letitia James, top law enforcement officials overseeing court cases against Trump
“The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!!!” authorities say Robertson wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post included in the filings.
Law enforcement investigate the scene of a shooting in Provo, Utah. Credit: AP
On one post attached in the complaint, the suspect said he was heading to New York to “fulfil my dream of iradicating [eradicating]” Bragg.
The suspect faces charges on three counts: interstate threats, threats against the president, and influencing, impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat. The complaint and the raid were reported earlier by the American ABC News channel.
“The Secret Service is aware of the FBI investigation involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats towards a protectee,” the Secret Service, which provides protection for the president, vice president and their families, said.
Political violence in a polarised United States has risen in recent years – a Reuters report released on Wednesday showed it is at its worst since the 1970s.
No lawyer was immediately listed for Robertson in court documents.
Biden is in the middle of a trip to the western US. He spent Wednesday in New Mexico, where he spoke at a factory that will produce wind turbines, and was scheduled to fly to Utah later in the day.
On Thursday, he’s expected to visit a Veterans Affairs hospital to talk about the PACT Act, which expanded veterans benefits, and hold a re-election fundraiser.
AP, Reuters
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