The family of the Utah father who was shot dead in an FBI raid over threats to assassinate President Biden have broken their silence, insisting the self-described “MAGA Trumper” was exercising his First Amendment rights online.
Craig Robertson, 75, was killed when special agents tried to serve him with an arrest warrant at his Provo home early Wednesday, just days after he’d posted on Facebook he planned to dust off his sniper rifle ahead of Biden’s visit to the state, the feds said.
His relatives said Robertson — who they described as a “firearm enthusiast, collector and gunsmith” — loved the US “with all his heart” but had become increasingly disappointed by the Biden administration.
“He was understandably frustrated and distraught by the present and on-going erosions to our constitutionally protected freedoms and the rights of free citizens wrought by what he, and many others in this nation, observed to be a corrupt and overreaching government,” the statement said.
“As an elderly–and largely homebound–man, there was very little he could do but exercise his First Amendment right to free speech and voice his protest in what has become the public square of our age–the internet and social media.
“Though his statements were intemperate at times, he has never, and would never, commit any act of violence against another human being over a political or philosophical disagreement.”
The family described the raid as a “senseless and tragic killing” and said Robertson, who was 300lbs and largely homebound, as a “kind and generous person” who was active in his local church congregation.
It comes after neighbors recalled Robertson as a “decent guy” who had cared for his blind son who was in his 50s. They described him as a frail and elderly man and said he walked with the aid of a hand-carved stick. Though he regularly carried guns, they said he didn’t appear to be a threat.
“There’s no way that he was driving from here to Salt Lake City, setting up a rifle and taking a shot at the president — 100% no way,” neighbor Andrew Maunder said outside the church across from Robertson’s street.
