A Fairburn man was arrested by federal authorities during a lengthy standoff Friday after he allegedly made online racial threats to kill Jews and Black people, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Christopher Robertson, 42, is facing federal charges of communicating interstate threats following his alleged actions last month, which included “menacing visits” to several Jewish buildings across metro Atlanta, according to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg. Those visits and threats prompted law enforcement officers to monitor dozens of Jewish facilities in the metro area, Hertzberg said.
“The allegations against Robertson, which include ... vile online threats against Jews and Blacks, are of great concern,” Hertzberg said in a statement. “Protecting the community from hate-fueled violence is a foundational part of the Department of Justice’s mission, and we will aggressively prosecute criminals who abuse the internet to terrorize and intimidate others.”
The series of events started Wednesday when staff members at the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta in Midtown notified security that Robertson, also known as James Lomak, was wandering around the parking lot, according to a news release. He had just driven inside the facility’s gated area without permission, prosecutors said. Robertson told security he was the “official spokesperson for the white race” and that he wanted to speak with a high-ranking Jewish official, according to the DOJ.
After being asked to leave, prosecutors said Robertson drove a half-mile to The Temple synagogue, where he told two staff members he wanted to speak with a rabbi. He then made “derogatory remarks” about Jews and “ranted” about the decline of the white race, officials said. An Atlanta police officer was inside, so he left.
According to the DOJ, security personnel and the FBI then found recent antisemitic and threatening video posts on several social media accounts used by the suspect. In one recent Facebook post, he was seen holding a black pistol while talking about the “cultural genocide of the white race,” the news release said.
In response, law enforcement patrols were added to about 80 local Jewish facilities.
On Thursday, Robertson entered a Jewish Chabad building in Peachtree City, prosecutors said. A rabbi called 911 as staff members barricaded themselves in an office out of fear, according to prosecutors.
Robertson recorded and posted that encounter on Facebook, where he identified himself as the “official delegate of the white race” and told the rabbi that Jewish people were on the “verge of extermination,” the DOJ said. He left after police arrived.
On Friday, prosecutors said Robertson posted another video on Facebook in which he threatened to kill Black people who “lash out openly at the white man.”
Prosecutors said a warrant was issued for his arrest that night, but Robertson barricaded himself inside his home for several hours as FBI agents tried to take him into custody. He eventually surrendered and a gun was found by agents at the scene, the DOJ said.
An interstate threat is any statement made across state lines with the intent to injure another person.
Robertson had his first court appearance Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Catherine M. Salinas, who ordered him to be held until his next hearing Thursday.
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