Who Was Craig Robertson, a Utah Man Who Was Shot in an FBI Raid?
The Utah man who was shot dead by FBI agents Wednesday morning after making online death threats to President Biden and other leading Democrats was a staunch Donald Trump supporter, Air Force veteran, Second Amendment supporter and twice-widowed father of three adult children.
Craig Deleeuw Robertson, 75, was reportedly armed when federal agents arrived at his doorstep around 6:15 a.m. to serve both an arrest warrant and a search warrant for his home in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, just hours before Biden should arrive there state.
Before Robertson was killed, he faced threats of interstate threats, a threat against the President, and the influence, obstruction, and retaliation of federal law enforcement officials through threats.
The registered Republican and self-proclaimed “MAGA Trumper” wrote online Sunday that he heard Biden was coming to Utah, so he pulled out his camouflage hunting suit and “cleaned the dust off the M24 sniper rifle.”
Robertson had a collection of firearms, which he frequently flaunted in photos on his social media profiles, in which he described himself as a “Vietnam-era Air Force veteran, retired welding inspector, gunsmith and woodworker.” NRA Life Member, 2A Advocate and owner of many AR rifles and many other rifles, shotguns and handguns.”
“Like Patrick Henry said, I’m also supposed to say, ‘GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH,'” the veteran added.
Robertson’s profile photo on Facebook showed him wearing a helmet, goggles and face covering while aiming a gun with the green laser sight on. Another picture showed him holding up a large rifle, while another had all of his weapons lined up.
According to Travis Lee Clark, a parishioner who knew Robertson from working together at the local church, he owned a collection of at least 20 guns – but added that it wasn’t unusual for the area.
Clark said Robertson is an “established icon” in her neighborhood and has often been open about his political views.
“He was a boomer and he was very political and sometimes made inappropriate jokes … but nothing indicated it was a threat,” he said, adding that he had “vulnerable health.”
On Facebook, Robertson’s political posts frequently described violence he intended to inflict on Democrats, including Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and prosecutors working on cases against Trump.
“The time has come for a presidential assassination or two,” Robertson reportedly wrote in a September 2022 Facebook post. “First Joe, then Kamala!!!”
He also threatened Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, US Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James, who oversee all cases against Trump.
“I dreamed that I was standing in a dark corner of a parking garage in Washington, DC, standing over the body of US Attorney General Merrick Garland with a bullet hole in the middle of his forehead,” Roberston wrote in all caps in a chilling post in February. “In my hand I held my suppressed Smith & Wesson M&P 9mm, smoke billowing from the muzzle.”
In another post, he described what he wanted to do to Bragg.
“I want to stand over Bragg and poke a nice hole in his forehead with my 9mm and watch him convulse as a drop of blood oozes from the hole as his life ebbs to hell!!” he wrote.
After the FBI was informed of Robertson’s online threats, he began targeting the FBI himself.
“Hey FBI, are you still monitoring my social media? I’ll check to make sure I have a loaded gun in case you come by again,” he wrote in a post.
Despite his detailed and gruesome posts, neighbors said Robertson was a frail, elderly man who used a cane and not someone they considered dangerous.
“There’s no way he could have driven from here to Salt Lake City, set up a gun and shot the President – 100% impossible,” said neighbor Andrew Maunder.
Biden flew to Utah on Wednesday and is scheduled to visit a Veterans Hospital in Salt Lake City on Thursday.
Robertson apparently spent his entire life in Utah.
He graduated from Orem High School in 1966 and enlisted in the Air Force in 1970. according to the local Fox station. He also attended trade school and Brigham Young University in Provo, according to his LinkedIn account.
He worked as a structural steel and welding inspector for 45 years before starting his own business, Craig’s Custom Woods, LLC, specializing in custom woodworking designs, he wrote on his LinkedIn profile.
Clark said he was a talented woodworker who carved his own walking stick.
The 75-year-old met his first wife, Carol Ann Harrison, at Brigham Young University, where they both attended. They married in February 1971 and had three children together, two boys and a girl, before divorcing in 1986, according to Harrison’s 2019 obituary.
Two years later, in May 1988, Robertson married his second wife, Jackie Christensen Robertson. They had no children and Jackie died in April 2008 at the age of 58, according to her obituary.
Robertson’s two sons live in Utah, while his daughter is an attorney in Virginia, according to her online profiles.
The father of three was charged in 1998 with disorderly conduct, to which state records state he has not contested. Details of the charge were not available.
The FBI’s Division of Inspection is investigating Robertson’s gunshot death.
With post wires
