On Wednesday, August 9, a 76-year-old man named Craig Robertson was shot dead by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agents in Utah, USA. His killing came just hours before US President Joe Biden’s visit to the state. The special agents of the FBI conducted a raid on Wednesday to nab the man for making alleged threats against President Joe Biden, Vice-President Kamala Harris and others.
Reportedly, the slain man was a supporter of former US President Donald Trump and called himself a “MAGA Trumper”.
According to US media reports, the incident occurred early Wednesday as investigators attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a property in Provo, south of Salt Lake City.
According to the complaint, Robertson was charged with three counts, interstate threats, threats against the president, and influencing, impeding, and retaliating against federal law enforcement authorities by threat.
Reportedly, Craig Robertson wrote several social media posts threatening President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, in addition to several officials who were involved in the prosecution of former President Donald Trump.
According to the complaint, one of the posts allegedly made by Robertson was published on August 6, three days before Biden’s scheduled visit. “I hear Biden is coming to Utah. Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle. Welcome, buffoon-in-chief! ,” the post added, according to the complaint, which described the post as a “willful true threat to kill or injure President Biden.”
Alongside Biden, the complaint claimed that Robertson threatened Vice President Kamala Harris and US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“The time is right for a presidential assassination or two,” one of the posts by Robertson posted, “First Joe then Kamala!!!”
He also threatened to shoot Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is investigating former President Donald Trump for allegedly paying a porn star hush money.
The accusation also contained images from Robertson’s social media postings of his large weapons collection, including a semi-automatic rifle he referred to as a “Democrat eradicator.”
A representative for the United States Secret Service said the agency is aware of the FBI investigation “involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats towards a Secret Service protectee” and forwarded any concerns to the FBI.
When an Indian-origin man was sentenced 5 years in prison for threatening George W Bush
The killing of Craig Robertson reminds one of another incident involving online threats to a US President from 2009. An Indian-origin man named Vikram Buddhi was sentenced in 2009 to four years and nine months in jail for his alleged hate messages sent in 2006 against former US president George W Bush. Buddhi was arrested for making derogatory remarks about then-US President George Bush at the time of a burgeoning protest against the US invasion of Iraq.
Buddhi was arrested in 2006 for making threats to Bush, then Vice President Dick Cheney and their wives, and calling for bombings of US infrastructure on Yahoo message boards. He was convicted in 2007 but sentenced only in 2009.
