“There’s no way that he was driving from here to Salt Lake City, setting up a rifle and taking a shot at the president—100 percent no way,” Andrew Maunder, his neighbor, said.
Craig Robertson was fatally shot as FBI agents and other law enforcement officers served a search warrant on his home in Provo, Utah, on Aug. 9. Provo is about 45 miles from Salt Lake City.
Online records show that Mr. Robertson was a retired welder who owned a custom woodworking business and was married twice; his second wife died in 2008.
Travis Lee Clark, who’s known Robertson for years from working at their church ward together, described Mr. Robertson as “frail of health,” a masterful woodworker, and an “established icon” in their community. Robertson propped himself on a wood walking stick he’d carved himself, said Mr. Clark, who was surprised he was considered a serious threat.
“He was a boomer, and he was very political and sometimes made off-color jokes ... but nothing that indicated it was a threat,” Mr. Clark said.
Facebook posts on an account that authorities say was run by Mr. Robertson included numerous threats against President Biden and other U.S. officials such as Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“The time is right for a presidential assassination or two,” Mr. Robertson wrote in one post. “Death to Joe Biden,” he said in another. In a third, he said he imagined President Biden’s body with the head severed.
Mr. Clark said Mr. Robertson had a collection of perhaps 20 guns, though he noted that that wasn’t unusual for the area.
Mr. Robertson was a supporter of former President Donald Trump, according to some of his posts. He posted images of more than half a dozen different guns, including a number of rifles.
Paul Searing, a businessman who lived in Provo before relocating to nearby Orem, said he had followed Mr. Robertson online for years and even warned him when he believed Mr. Robertson was crossing a line in his posts.
“He believed in his right to bear arms. He believed in his right to say what he feels. When it came down to it, he knew the Lord wouldn’t have approved of killing innocent people,” Mr. Searing said. “Things got out of hand because he just was really frustrated.”
Warrant Served
After Mr. Robertson was charged in a sealed complaint with threatening the president and two other felony counts, agents gathered to execute arrest and search warrants.Jon Michael Ossola, another neighbor, said he and his wife were preparing for their day when they heard yelling, looked outside, and saw about 20 officers outside of Mr. Robertson’s home.
After firing flash bangs, the officers started yelling at Mr. Robertson, Mr. Ossola told The Epoch Times.
“They yelled at him saying, ‘We’re the FBI, we’re looking for Craig Robertson, open the door.’ He was yelling back. ‘I haven’t broken any federal laws,’” Mr. Ossola recounted.
Their view of the scene was partly obscured, so they didn’t see when Mr. Robertson was shot.
An FBI spokeswoman told The Epoch Times in an email that there was an “agent-involved shooting” while executing the warrants in Provo on the morning of Aug. 9.
“The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division,” the spokeswoman said. She declined to provide more details.
The U.S. Secret Service said it was aware of an FBI investigation into a Utah resident threatening the president but referred questions to the FBI. The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment.
After he was shot, officers carried Mr. Robertson out in front of his home, Mr. Ossola said.
“Some medical professionals looked at him for a couple minutes but it was clear he was gone. And then they just kind of put a sheet over him.”
Mr. Ossola said he didn’t know Mr. Robertson but that he was a member of his church group.
“It’s just hard to see anyone going through with that,” Mr. Ossola said.
Mr. Robertson didn’t have a criminal history beyond pleading no contest to a disorderly conduct charge in 1998. Details about that case weren’t immediately available.
