Family of Provo man shot by FBI says they ‘mourn the loss of a good and decent man’

PROVO, Utah —  The family of a man shot and killed by the FBI Wednesday said they are shocked and devastated as they mourn the loss of “a good and decent man.”

The family released a statement Thursday, a day after their father and brother was shot and killed after FBI served a search warrant hours before President Joe Biden arrived in Utah.  The man, Craig Deeluew Robertson, had made multiple threats to Biden on social media.

FBI shoots and kills Provo man accused of threatening President Biden’s life

The family said they held “no personal animosity” towards the people involved in the “ill-fated events” of Wednesday morning.

The full statement is included below:

“We, the family of Craig Deeluew Robertson, are shocked and devastated by the senseless and tragic killing of our beloved father and brother, and we fervently mourn the loss of a good and decent man.

The Craig Robertson we knew was a kind and generous person who was always willing to assist another in need, even when advanced age, limited mobility, and other physical challenges made it more difficult and painful for him to do so. He often used his expert woodworking skills to craft beautiful and creative items for others, including toys such as sleighs, rocking horses, and bubble gum dispensers for the children of friends and neighbors at Christmas time. He was active in his local church congregation and loved the Lord Jesus Christ with all his heart. He was a devoted dog lover all his life, and he lavished his animals with love and affection. He was a lover of history and an avid reader of every kind of book. In his younger years, he was a sportsman and hunter. He was a firearm enthusiast, collector and gunsmith, who staunchly supported the constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms for the purposes of providing food and protection for his family and home. As a safety inspector in the steel industry, he worked diligently and conscientiously to safeguard the lives and well-being of untold thousands who would use, and benefit from, the numerous industrial and public works projects he was responsible for during the course of a decades-long career.

Craig loved this country with all his heart. He saw it as a God-inspired and God-blessed land of liberty. He was understandably frustrated and distraught by the present and on-going erosions to our constitutionally protected freedoms and the rights of free citizens wrought by what he, and many others in this nation, observed to be a corrupt and overreaching government. As an elderly–and largely homebound–man, there was very little he could do but exercise his First Amendment right to free speech and voice his protest in what has become the public square of our age–the internet and social media. Though his statements were intemperate at times, he has never, and would never, commit any act of violence against another human being over a political or philosophical disagreement.

As our family processes the grief and pain of our loss, we would have it be known that we hold no personal animosity towards those individuals who took part in the ill-fated events of the morning of August 9, 2023, which resulted in Craig’s death. We ask that the media and public respect our family members’ privacy and give us the time and space needed to come to terms with the sad tragedy of these events.”

Neighbors described the man as “a loveable teddy bear of a guy,” and were shocked at the encounter. Many admitted they weren’t aware of his social media posts.

‘That’s not the man I knew’: Neighbors describe Provo suspect killed by FBI