Utah man killed after threats in opposition to Biden believed authorities was corrupt, overreaching

PROVO, Utah — An armed Utah man killed by FBI brokers after making violent threats in opposition to President Joe Biden was described by his household Thursday as a gun fanatic and devoted churchgoer who grew to become distraught over what he noticed as “a corrupt and overreaching government.”

The household insisted in an announcement that Air Force veteran Craig Deleeuw Robertson wouldn’t have acted on the threats and dedicated violence over political disagreements, regardless of court docket information wherein prosecutors depicted him as radicalized.

Robertson, who public information say was 74 years previous, was killed Wednesday by brokers making an attempt to serve a warrant at his Provo dwelling hours earlier than the president landed in Utah to go to a Veterans Affairs hospital in Salt Lake City, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) away.

Prosecutors had filed three expenses in opposition to him below seal for alleged threats, together with one this week that he was “cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle” in anticipation of Biden’s Utah go to.

The self-employed woodworker was largely homebound and had restricted mobility, his household stated. Robertson referred to himself as a “MAGA Trumper,” a reference to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, and posted threats together with in opposition to Biden, the FBI and quite a few regulation enforcement officers overseeing court docket circumstances in opposition to Trump, based on an FBI affidavit.

“There was very little he could do but exercise his First Amendment right to free speech,” Robertson’s household stated in an announcement posted to social media. The assertion added that he was an honest man who voiced his “sometimes intemperate” grievances “in what has become the public square of our age – the internet.”

The household added that it had no animosity in opposition to regulation enforcement brokers who took half within the occasions main as much as his demise.

“The salient point is that he was never actually going to hurt anyone,” member of the family Julie Robertson stated in a textual content message. “He didn’t even leave his house on the day of the presidential visit.”

The FBI investigation started following a March tip a few menace Robertson made on Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social. Robertson additionally referenced a “presidential assassination” and posted threats in opposition to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James, authorities stated. He referred to as for assassinating the president and vice chairman, referred to as an assault rifle a “Democratic eradicator” and recurrently posted pictures of firearms accompanied by threatening messages, they stated.

Roughly 20 regulation enforcement brokers got here to Robertson’s home, on a cul-de-sac, at about 6 a.m. Wednesday, based on neighbor Jon Michael Ossola. They advised Robertson to come back outdoors and he began yelling again, saying he hadn’t dedicated any federal crimes, Ossola stated.

The shouting escalated till a window was damaged, Ossola stated, then he heard a cacophony of bangs and finally noticed brokers deliver Robertson’s physique outdoors. “It was clear he was gone,” Ossola stated.

Ossola filmed a part of the encounter to “show friends and family that this crazy stuff happens in Provo, Utah,” he stated.

“I understand that, like, he had guns, and he had mentioned that he would use them, and so there’s definitely a concern there,” Ossola stated. “But it still felt, like, a bit unsettling about how many people were there and just kind of how forceful it felt.”

FBI representatives didn’t instantly reply to the household’s assertion or questions concerning the raid, together with whether or not brokers have been sporting physique cameras. Biden final 12 months signed an govt order requiring all federal regulation enforcement companies to mandate that physique cameras be used throughout operations resembling arrests and searches. However, a 2022 FBI coverage says brokers executing arrest and search warrants should not have to put on them whether it is thought of unsafe.

Military information present Robertson is a U.S. Air Force veteran who entered energetic responsibility in 1970 and served 4 or fewer years, based on Air Force spokeswoman Ann Stefanek.

He was an airman first-class and his service included work as a metalworker helper, she stated. He was final stationed at Chanute Air Force Base in Illinois, which has since been decommissioned. Further particulars on his service weren’t instantly out there.

Neighbors stated Robertson’s violent threat-laced social media posts have been markedly totally different than how he interacted locally, the place he would ask about neighbors’ kids and provide to drive them dwelling from church close to his home. The neighborhood is principally single-story houses with inexperienced lawns in a rising space south of Salt Lake City identified for out of doors recreation and as spiritual, conservative and residential to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ Brigham Young University.

Firefighters on Thursday laid flowers in entrance of Robertson’s dwelling after cleansing blood off the walkway to his door.

Robertson had about 20 firearms, based on a neighbor, and was armed on the time of the capturing, based on two regulation enforcement sources who soke to The Associated Press on the situation of anonymity to debate particulars of an ongoing investigation.

A White House official who requested anonymity to debate the matter stated Biden was briefed after the raid. He made no point out of it throughout his Thursday look in Salt Lake.

• Slevin and Bedayn reported from Denver and Brown reported from Billings. Associated Press writers Tara Copp in Washington, Thomas Peipert in Denver, Chris Megerian in Salt Lake, and researcher Jennifer Farrar in New York contributed to this report.