He threatened President Biden/ FBI agents kill the 74-year-old

2023-08-10 07:18:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

A man accused of making threats against President Joe Biden was killed by FBI agents in Utah hours before the president arrived there Wednesday, authorities said.

FBI agents were trying to execute an arrest warrant at the home of suspect Craig Deleeuw Robertson in Provo, south of Salt Lake City, at 6:15 a.m. when the gunfire began, the FBI said in a statement. .

Robertson posted online Monday that he had heard President Biden was coming to Utah and that he was planning to find a camouflage suit and "dust off the M24 sniper rifle."

He has said he is a supporter of former President Trump and has in the past posted threats against law enforcement officials who are investigating him.

Neighbors of suspect Craig Deleeuw Robertson say he is frail, elderly and walked with the aid of a cane. Although he regularly carried a gun, they say they did not see him as a threat. In his accounts on social media platforms, he has stated that he is 74 years old.

"I don't think he would drive into Salt Lake City and shoot the president. I'm one hundred percent sure he wouldn't do that," said his neighbor Andrew Maunder.

The posts showed he appeared to be in possession of a long-range sniper rifle and multiple other weapons, as well as camouflage clothing, investigators said in court documents.

Robertson also referred to a "presidential assassination" and made other threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Attorney General Merrick Garland and New York Attorney General Letitia James, court documents said.

According to authorities, Robertson wrote on Facebook in September 2022 that “It's time for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe, then Kamala!!!” His post was included in the file submitted to the court. No lawyer for the defendant, Craig Deleeuw Robertson, is named in court documents.

No further details have been released about the shooting, which is being investigated by the FBI.

President Biden is touring the western part of the United States. A White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said President Biden had been briefed on the incident. He visited the state of New Mexico on Wednesday, where he spoke at a wind turbine manufacturing plant. Then President Biden went to Utah.

On Thursday, he will visit a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in Utah to talk about the US military veterans benefits law and hold a fundraiser for the 2024 presidential election./VOA