Provo man pointed gun at agents before he was shot and killed, FBI says

PROVO (KSL.com) — The FBI says an elderly Provo man who was shot and killed by agents attempting to serve an arrest warrant at his home was armed and pointed a gun at them.

“Robertson resisted arrest and as agents attempted to take him into custody, he pointed a .357 revolver at them,” the FBI said in a statement Monday. It is the first time the agency explained what prompted agents to shoot him last week.

Wednesday morning, FBI agents went to 75-year-old Craig Deeleuw Robertson’s home, 342 N. 1170 West in Provo, to serve a federal arrest warrant on charges of making interstate threats, making threats against federal law enforcement and making threats against the president. While serving the warrant, agents fired shots at Robertson, killing him.

“The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force officers seriously. In accordance with FBI policy, the shooting incident is under review by the FBI’s Inspection Division. We have no further details to provide at this time,” the FBI said Monday.

The shooting occurred hours before President Joe Biden arrived in Salt Lake City for a scheduled visit. Robertson had posted numerous threatening messages on social media about the president as well as pictures of the numerous guns he owned, according to law enforcers.

Others, however, note that Robertson needed a walker to get around and contend he was exercising his right to free speech but would never actually harm the president.

While the incident is being investigated internally, it was unclear Monday whether a local law enforcement agency is also investigating the shooting to be reviewed by the Utah County Attorney’s Office.

According to Utah Code section 76-2-408, as of May 2022, “When an officer-involved critical incident occurs: Upon receiving notice of the officer-involved critical incident, the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction where the incident occurred shall, as soon as practical, notify the county or district attorney having jurisdiction where the incident occurred; and the chief executive of the law enforcement agency and the county or district attorney having jurisdiction where the incident occurred shall jointly designate an investigating agency for the officer-involved critical incident; and designate which agency is the lead investigative agency if the officer-involved critical incident involves multiple investigations.

“The investigating agency … may not be the law enforcement agency employing the officer who is alleged to have caused or contributed to the officer-involved critical incident,” the law continues.

But since the FBI is a federal agency, it was unclear Monday whether that new law would apply to last week’s shooting.