By Kanishka Singh
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The FBI said its agents shot and killed a Utah man on Wednesday during a raid that a source said targeted the man for allegedly making threats against U.S. President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and law enforcement officials.
The FBI in Salt Lake City said the shooting occurred early on Wednesday as agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence in Provo, south of Salt Lake City.
The FBI did not identify the man or say why it was seeking an arrest. “The FBI takes all shooting incidents involving our agents or task force members seriously,” it said in a statement, adding that the incident was under review.
A federal complaint shared with Reuters by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Utah named the suspect as Craig Robertson. He posted in September calling for the assassination of Biden and Harris, the complaint shows.
He also made threats against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as Bragg led a criminal inquiry into former President Donald Trump, and made threats against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, the complaint shows.
In one post attached in the complaint, the suspect said he was heading to New York to “fulfill my dream of iradicating (eradicating)” Bragg.
The complaint showed that the suspect faced charges on three counts: interstate threats, threats against the president, and influencing, impeding and retaliating against federal law enforcement officers by threat.
Political violence in a polarized United States has gone up in recent years, with a Reuters report released Wednesday showing it is at its worst since the 1970s.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; editing by Rami Ayyub and Jonathan Oatis)
