Utah man shot by FBI armed in ’18 incident

A 75-yearold man shot by officers trying to arrest him for social media threats he made against officials including President Joe Biden had a history of “exercising his 2nd Amendment rights, albeit a little recklessly,” according to Utah police records.

Craig Robertson was killed after pointing a revolver at FBI agents who came to his house in numbers Aug. 9. Nearly five years earlier, he brought a handgun into his Provo, Utah, backyard to demand employees working on a utility pole get off his property, according to a Provo Police incident report.

His history of carrying firearms when addressing people near his home reflects the difficulties law enforcement can face in assessing threats when those accused of making them are heavily armed.

The utility workers told police that nobody had answered when they rang the doorbell. Later, Robertson came out with a gun, accusing them of trespassing, they told the police.

“Robertson was yelling at them he was waving his gun around causing the muzzle to point in their direction,” an officer wrote in the August 2018 incident report.

When police arrived, Robertson answered the door with an AR-15 slung over his shoulder, leading to what an officer described as “a bit of a standoff.”

Robertson denied that he had pointed the handgun in anyone’s direction.

“While I was speaking with Robertson while he had his rifle, I observed that he was holding it in a ready position against his body with his finger on the trigger guard which led me to believe he had trained with firearms and was aware of where his muzzle was and how to control the weapon while moving,” the responding officer said.

Officers consulted the local prosecutor, but no charges were filed.