(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The FBI is maintaining its silence in the wake of agents killing Utah man Craig Robertson, but reports and witnesses raise troubling questions about possible bureau misconduct in last week’s armed raid against the obese, 75-year-old.
Citing a man who was Robertson’s neighbor, Utah-based outlet Deseret News reported last Thursday that the FBI failed to preserve its crime scene after the shooting, which came after Robertson made a slew of online threats against President Joe Biden and other government officials.
After firing a “barrage of bullets” that left Robertson dead around 6 a.m. last Wednesday, authorities immediately carried the man out of his house and placed him on the sidewalk. There, his lifeless and bloody body remained for about two hours, according to the neighbor.
“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.
Libertarian Institute fellow Richard Booth—a researcher of right-wing domestic terrorism cases—noted the irregular manner in which the FBI handled its crime scene following the shooting.
“You would think the standard operating procedure would be to photograph the scene, trace the paths of all bullets fired, notate the location of the weapon he supposedly had, proximity to body, all that,” Booth said.
“Nope: Drag his corpse outside. NOT ADDING UP.”
You would think SOP would be to photograph the scene, trace the paths of all bullets fired, notate the location of the weapon he supposedly had, proximity to body, all that.
Nope, drag his corpse outside.
NOT ADDING UP
— Richard Booth📝 (@okc_facts) August 11, 2023
Observers have been divided over whether the FBI’s killing of Robertson was justified. Libertarians and conservatives have largely treated him as a victim, while liberals said the FBI justly killed a potential assassin—even though the man had trouble walking.
The neighbors who knew Robertson told reportedly called him a “teddy bear” who was known for his woodworking and who would sit in the same seat at church every Sunday.
Another said he was barely mobile, weighed nearly 300 pounds and was unable to walk without a cane. He would drive to church, despite it only being about 200 yards from his home, because he had so much trouble moving around, according to Deseret News.
Robertson had been under FBI surveillance for months over his incendiary Facebook posts, including one where he said he was planning to clean “the dust off the M24 sniper rifle” because Biden was visiting Utah. He also posted that “perhaps Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the Marxist.”
The FBI claims Robertson pointed a gun at law enforcement during last Wednesday’s shooting, but the bureau’s agents do not wear body cameras—so presumably there’s no footage of the shooting.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
