During an FBI operation on Wednesday, a man who had made violent threats against President Joe Biden and other authorities online was shot and killed.
Just hours before President Biden was scheduled to visit the state, agents were seeking to serve Craig Robertson with an arrest warrant at his house in Utah.
According to a federal complaint, Robertson threatened President Biden and a prosecutor who was investigating possible criminal charges against Donald Trump on Facebook.
The FBI refused to provide more information.
The raid took place in Provo, which is located around 40 miles (65 km) south of Salt Lake City, at around 06:15 local time.
Robertson posted threats to kill Mr. Biden and Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney overseeing an investigation into a hush-money payment by Mr. Trump to an adult film star, as well as images of guns on Facebook, according to a criminal complaint.
Other messages, according to the complaint, were directed at New York Attorney General Letitia James and US Attorney General Merrick Garland.
On Facebook, Robertson wrote: “I hear Biden is coming to Utah. cleaning the M24 sniper rifle of dust and digging out my old ghillie suit.
On two of Robertson’s Facebook accounts, there were dozens of other violent posts and images of weapons.
According to the complaint, Robertson was observed by federal officials in March after making a threat against Mr. Bragg on the Mr. Trump-owned social media site Truth Social. The business informed the National Threat Operations Centre of the FBI.
When FBI officers contacted the suspect later, he described the posting as a “dream” and declared, “We’re done here! Don’t return without a warrant!”
Later posts by Robertson mentioned his run-together with the agents, featured images of him dressed in sniper-style camouflage, and repeatedly threatened government officials.
Even on Tuesday, when he posted, the messages persisted: “Perhaps Utah will become famous this week as the place a sniper took out Biden the Marxist.”
On Thursday, Mr. Biden will pay his first visit to Utah as president, stopping up at a veterans hospital and attending a fundraiser in Park City.