Former USU-Eastern Basketball Coach Christopher Craig was arrested on Monday afternoon in Eagle Mountain after forcing an elementary school to evacuate. Craig allegedly called authorities and told them he had a trunk full of explosives in his car at the school.
The school was put on lockdown and was evacuated. Once authorities arrived, Craig, clad in a green tunic and a white head-wrap, told them he had a message to share and after he was heard he would allow himself to be arrested.
Negotiations ensued, after which Craig was ultimately arrested and charged with threat of terrorism, interfering with arresting officers, failure to disclose identity, disrupting operation of a school and disorderly conduct.
Upon Craig’s surrender, a search of his vehicle and the area was conducted, but no weapons or explosives were found.
Shortly before arriving at the Eagle Mountain school, Craig sent a letter to several media outlets via email, including ETV 10 News. In the letter, Craig says he was “born into this world under the slave name of Christopher Craig” and that currently he is known as “the Radical Islamic Jihadist Muhammad Allah Al-Khidr.”
He threatened the elementary school in the letter and instructed media to call Eagle Mountain Police Department in two hours if they “think he is bluffing.”
The letter, a racist diatribe, is attested to be written in support of white police officers, for whom Craig pledges to go on a hunger strike to the death.
“And This Day I go to kill myself in jail in honor of the most racially targeted group of humans = white police officers,” he said in the email. “I can’t donate money or post on Instagram, but my life I lay down for you to the death.”
Craig was the head basketball coach at USU-Eastern from 2007-2010, and since then has been no stranger to criminal activity.
He was arrested in Price in Aug. 2013 on drug charges and again in April 2014 for a similar incident at his daughter’s elementary school. He was wearing the same clothing in the April incident that he was wearing in this week’s incident.