Trump supporter killed in FBI raid was a ‘teddy bear’ who cared for blind son but the ‘type to sleep with gun under his pillow’: neighbor
Neighbors described the man shot in an FBI raid on his home in Utah after he made threats to assassinate the president as a “decent guy” who cared for his blind son but was the “type to sleep with a gun under his pillow.”
Craig Robertson, 75, allegedly pointed a gun at law enforcement during the incident Wednesday which led to what locals described as a “hail of bullets” at the home in Provo.
Robertson was then dragged out of the house and bled out on the sidewalk outside his home covered under a sheet, according to local reports.
“I just can’t believe that this man warranted that kind of response,” Travis Clark, who lived on the same street as Robertson, told the Deseret News.
Another neighbor described Robertson as a “teddy bear” known for his woodworking talents.
Others were shocked by the huge police response to the home of the 300-pound Air Force veteran turned carpenter, who walked around with a cane as he was barely mobile, according to people who knew him.
Local Connor Bunch said the entire neighborhood was shocked with how the events unfolded one day before Biden visited the state, describing Robertson to The Post as a “charitable man” who took care of his blind son, Sean, who is in his 50s.
Bunch said he heard authorities knock on Robertson’s door the day before the raid, but he turned them away because they didn’t have a warrant.
“I don’t think he was even given a chance to even see a warrant when they went in and raided his house,” Bunch said.
“That was them serving the warrant but in the most spectacular way. It just seems like a tremendously unnecessary display of force.”
A federal complaint obtained by The Post from the Utah US Attorney’s office detailed threats made against Biden and other senior Democrats, including Kamala Harris, New York Attorney General Letitia James, US Attorney General Merrick Garland and California Gov. Gavin Newsom, among others.
“I hear Biden is coming to Utah,” Robertson wrote Sunday. “Digging out my old ghillie suit and cleaning the dust off the M24 sniper rifle. Welcome, Buffoon-in-chief!”
Bunch added: “It makes you wonder who will be next because there are no shortage of people out there who don’t say the smartest things online.
“Is the FBI going to bust in their door too with guns blazing? It just seems like a very inappropriate way to have handled the situation.”
Connor said Robertson owned at least 20 guns and attended church every Sunday. He described him as “well-liked” in the community but added his neighbor “would be the type who would sleep a gun under his pillow.”
“He would say funny things sometimes, but you know, a lot of older people do,” he added.
“[Robertson] had a hard time himself and walked with a cane, but he took good care of his son,” Bunch told The Post.
“He would guide his son through church and pick a seat for him, tapped his son on the shoulder to signal where to sit. Without his dad, I think he’s going to have a really hard time just doing basic things.”
Another neighbor, Andrew Maunder, described Robertson to the Salt Lake Tribune as a “harmless” old man.
“He definitely had his political views, which he was very public about on Facebook, but I think deep down, he was just a cranky old guy.”
He also told AP: “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.”
Despite writing things like “the time is right for a presidential assassination” and “death to Joe Biden,” Robertson gave a normal outward appearance and owned a business called Craig’s Custom Woods. He helped Maunder build a kitchen table and orchestrated a volunteer group to help build a ramp for a disabled woman.
Maunder said Robertson joked he would die in a suicide-by-cop situation, but he “never thought it would actually happen,” he told the Tribune.
A former neighbor Paul Searing, who’s been friends with Robertson for 22 years, said he noticed the father-of-three’s Facebook posts becoming more extreme, but blew it off as an “old man just trying to share frustration with what’s going on in the world.”
Around 6 a.m. Wednesday, Robertson’s neighbors were awoken by the sound of the FBI standing outside of his home demanding he “come out with your hands up.”
Moments later, neighbors’ homes would fill with the blasting sound of rapid gunfire as they hunkered down in their basements and peaked out their windows to see what the commotion was.
“It sounded like it was coming from inside my house,” one neighbor told the Deseret News.
Robertson’s body was then dragged out of his home bloodied and limp, the Deseret News reported.
Authorities attempted to render first-aid, according to witnesses, but it was fruitless and after he had died on the sidewalk Roberton’s body laid there for two hours under a blood-soaked sheet, neighbors said.
“I understand they have procedures that have to be followed, but having his body out there for so long when there’s kids in the cul-de-sac…they could have done more. Because he was bleeding through the sheet,” a neighbor told the local outlet.
Robertson – who always had a gun on him, according to his neighbors – was shot after allegedly pointing a gun at law enforcement officers, a source close to the matter told CNN.
Witnesses told Deseret News that after six gunshots went off, FBI agents started screaming: “Shots fired, shots fired. He’s got a gun!”
“They were all shooting at the same time…and at that point in time, I was in get-my-kid mode,” an unidentified neighbor told the local outlet.
After the FBI was tipped off about Robertson’s online threats, he began targeting the bureau itself.
“Hey FBI, you still monitoring my social media? Checking so I can be sure to have a loaded gun handy in case you drop by again,” he wrote in one now-chilling post.
