Video exposes tense moments prior to deadly FBI raid on man accused of threatening Biden
Harrowing video shows the moments before and after a deadly FBI raid in Provo, Utah, on the home of Craig Robertson, a 74-year-old woodworker accused of making death threats against President Biden and other high-profile Democrats.
Days before the president was set to visit the state, Robertson wrote an ominous Facebook post, according to the FBI.
"I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghille suit and cleaning the dust off the m24 sniper rifle. welcom, buffoon-in-chief!"
He had access to the suit and rifle he mentioned, according to a federal court filing. FBI agents arrived at his home Wednesday morning to serve arrest and search warrants.
Images show the aftermath of an FBI raid in Utah on the home of Craig Robertson, a 74-year-old Provo man accused of making death threats against President Biden. (Fox News Digital)
A law enforcement source told Fox News Digital that Robertson was holding a weapon. After a standoff, agents opened fire, killing him around 6:14 a.m., Fox News reported Wednesday.
Robertson is accused of making numerous violent threats in court documents and was first reported to the FBI in March for a threat against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
His prior criminal history appears to be relatively minor. Records shows he pleaded no contest to a disorderly conduct charge in Utah County in 1998. Neighbors say he was active in the local church.
But his posts repeatedly mentioned killing the president and other high-profile Democrats, including Attorney General Merrick Garland, in addition to members of the FBI, according to court filings.
Jon Michael Ossola, a neighbor who witnessed portions of the raid, said he and his wife typically are getting ready to go to the gym around the time authorities showed up at Robertson's front door Wednesday.
"We woke up, and then we started hearing some weird noises, and we went around the corner," he told Fox News Digital. "That's when they started just kind of shouting, and there's like a full SWAT team there."
After agents identified themselves as law enforcement, Robertson did not cooperate.
"He started yelling back like, 'I haven't broken any federal laws,'" Ossola told Fox News Digital. "And that kind of went on for a while until like there was a bunch of flash bangs that went off, and there were a lot of loud bangs –obviously some gunshots."
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Travis Clark, close friend of Robertson, told Fox News Digital that the slain woodworker was the soul caretaker for a disabled adult son who also lived in the home and is blind.
Clark said he was not privy to Robertson's Facebook account and that he learned about the posts Wednesday.
"It's pretty shocking stuff, but it's not the Craig Robertson I knew," he said. "And it just feels to me like he was just leaning into an online persona and just shooting his mouth off."
He said Robertson was about 5 feet, 4 inches tall and weighed 300 pounds. He "could barely get around with a cane" and had difficulty standing up on his own.
"You know, he could be cantankerous from time to time; he could tell an off color joke from time to time – but there was absolutely nothing about him that would make you think that he was mentally unstable or that he was a danger," he said. "And I have to stress this, physically, he was just incapable of enacting any of the threats that I saw."
But Robertson may have made good on at least one threat – to meet the FBI with a loaded gun if they returned to his house.
The conversation and the shooting itself are not clear on the video, but bangs can be heard.
After about a half-hour, the neighbor said, authorities retrieved Robertson's body from the home.
A medical team determined he was deceased and laid a sheet over his remains until they placed them in an ambulance and drove away.
Authorities were still on scene as of Thursday morning.
Images show the aftermath of an FBI raid in Utah on the home of Craig Robertson, a 74-year-old Provo man accused of making death threats against President Biden. (Fox News Digital)
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A spokesperson for the U.S. Secret Service acknowledged the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, but deferred questions to the FBI and Department of Justice.
"He had a lot of political opinions, but he was very conservative, very pro-Second Amendment, But, you know, this is Utah," Clark said. "That's not unusual."