Craig Robertson, the man who was shot and killed by the FBI in Provo, Utah, around 6:15am PDT on Aug. 9, pulled a gun on the agents who tried to arrest him, according to a statement provided to the Daily Dot by the FBI.
“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 reads.
“Robertson resisted arrest and as agents attempted to take him into custody, he pointed a .357 revolver at them,” the statement says.
The FBI says it takes all “shooting incidents” involving their agents seriously.
“In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division,” the statement said, noting that the FBI “adheres to the DOJ Policy on Use of Deadly Force.”
“Enforcement officers and correctional officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only when necessary,” reads a section of that policy provided by the FBI in an email. “Necessary” is defined as “when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
Robertson repeatedly posted fantasies and threats about murdering Democratic Party public officials, according to a complaint filed against him days before he was killed.
In one post, he attached an image of a black, semi-automatic handgun which he called a “Merrick Garland eradication tool.”
When FBI agents approached Robertson at his home in March 2023 to question him about his posts, Robertson shouted at them to not “return without a warrant!” according to the complaint.
The complaint was filed against Robertson after he “knowingly and willfully ma[d]e a threat to take the life of and to inflict bodily harm upon the president of the United States,” according to the complaint.
“I HEAR BIDEN IS COMING TO UTAH. DIGGING OUT MY OLD GHILLE [camoflauge] SUIT AND CLEANING THE DUST OFF THE M24 SNIPER RIFLE. WELCOM, BUFFOON-IN-CHIEF!” Robertson posted on Aug. 7, two days before the president was scheduled to visit Utah.
Neighbors described Robertson as “about 80 years old with limited mobility” in the aftermath of the shooting.
One told Deseret News he heard agents yelling, “Craig Robertson, please come out with your hands up,” the morning of Robertson’s death, followed by the sound of what seemed to them to be “three or four flashbang grenades.”
Before the FBI reported that Robertson was armed when agents arrived and threatened them, he briefly became a right-wing martyr and symbol of an overzealous FBI.
