The FBI shot and killed a Utah man during an attempted arrest for his violent threats to President Joe Biden and the New York City district attorney prosecuting former President Donald Trump, authorities said.

The man was killed in Provo, Utah, a city on the outskirts of Salt Lake City. Biden is expected to arrive in Salt Lake City later Wednesday as part of his swing through multiple southwest states.

A criminal complaint dated Aug. 8 provided to Spectrum News by the Department of Justice accused Craig Deleeuw Robertson of repeatedly posting death threats in the last few months targeting Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, and FBI agents investigating his social media posts.

On Monday, just days before Biden’s arrival in Utah, Robertson posted on social media, “I HEAR BIDEN IS COMING TO UTAH. DIGGING OUT MY OLD GHILLE SUIT AND CLEANING THE DUST OFF THE M24 SNIPER RIFLE. WELCOM, BUFFOON-IN-CHIEF,” according to federal prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors said this Facebook post, published Monday, was made by Craig Robertson, a Utah man shot and killed by the FBI on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice)

The FBI said in the criminal complaint Robertson does “appear to own a sniper rifle and a ghillie suit,” a full-body camouflage outfit. He posted pictures of multiple firearms, including semi-automatic rifles, over the last year, claiming he owned nine.

“I therefore believe this is knowing and willful true threat to kill or cause injury to President Biden using an M24 sniper rifle while being concealed by a ghillie suit during President Biden’s visit to Utah,” an FBI special agent wrote in the complaint. The agent’s name was redacted, but the complaint was signed off on by the U.S. Attorney for the District of Utah, Trina Higgins.

(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice)

But Robertson had been making threats long before this week, federal authorities alleged.

“The time is right for a presidential assassination or two. First Joe then Kamala!” Robertson wrote on Facebook in September 2022.

He also threatened in March of this year to go to New York City to “stand over Bragg and put a nice hole in his forehead with my 9mm."

Prosecutors said the FBI received a tip from a social media company about the March threat to Bragg and began investigating Robertson. That same day, the FBI observed him outside his home and described him as a heavy-set white male in his seventies wearing an AR-15 style rifle pin and a Trump hat.

Robertson repeatedly posted he was a Trump supporter, writing “I’m a MAGA TRUMPER” – a reference to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan – in a post taunting his FBI investigators.

Bragg has been subject to frequent death threats since indicting former President Trump in April on charges related to hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to two women who allege they had affairs with him. Multiple letters with suspicious white powder were sent to his offices in the weeks surrounding the indictment.

FBI agents approached Robertson on that first day of observation and he confirmed the social media post was his but declined to answer any more questions. Before and after the visit, he made multiple posts mocking and taunting the FBI, including saying the “FBI cowards” would die if they kicked in his door.

(Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice)

James, the New York attorney general, was threatened with a “sniper’s bullet.” Garland was compared to Heinrich Himmler, the architect of the Holocaust, and threatened by Robertson with a hanging. In an October 2022 post, Robertson described a “patriotic dream” he had of standing over Newsom’s corpse after shooting him, per the complaint.

In one post, Robertson simply wrote “death to Joe Biden” four times.

The FBI confirmed an agent-involved shooting that left a man dead in an early morning arrest attempt, but did not identify the man or provide additional details.

"The FBI is reviewing an agent-involved shooting which occurred around 6:15 a.m. on Wednesday, August 9, 2023 in Provo, Utah," a spokesperson for the FBI field office in Utah said in an email to Spectrum News. "The incident began when special agents attempted to serve arrest and search warrants at a residence. The subject is deceased."

"As this is an ongoing matter, we have no further details to provide," the spokesperson, Sandra Barker, added.

A Secret Service spokesperson acknowledged an ABC News report on the shooting without confirming details.

“We are aware of the FBI investigation involving an individual in Utah who has exhibited threats towards a Secret Service protectee,” spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said.

A Facebook page belonging to an individual Craig Robertson from Provo, Utah, viewed by Spectrum News contained multiple apparent threats against Biden in the hours before the shooting Wednesday morning. One post also used a racial slur to describe “The View” host Whoopi Goldberg. 

Within minutes of Spectrum News viewing the Facebook page on Wednesday around 3:30 p.m. ET, Facebook had locked the page from public consumption. An archived version of the page was not immediately available.

Facebook did not immediately return a request for comment.

In an unrelated case on Wednesday, the mother of a 30-year-old man accused of making death threats against Biden,  Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and members of the LGBTQ community, was charged herself for purchasing multiple guns for her son.

This is a developing story. Check back later for further updates.