Lawyer Who Pointed Gun At Protestors Says He Feared They Were Going To ‘Kill’ Him
Source: Twitter / Twitter
This week, Mark and Patricia McCloskey went viral when they were caught on video pointing their guns at protestors who entered their property. Now Mark McCloskey is speaking out on the incident, arguing that he feared for him and his wife’s life.
On Sunday, St. Louis protestors were on their way to the mayor’s house to demand she resign for doxxing folks who were advocates of defunding the police. On their way to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s house, protestors stopped by the McCloskeys million dollar property and entered their gate despite a sign saying the property was “Private.”
Eventually, protestors made it outside of the McCloskeys house, and this is when Mark came outside with an AR-15 gun while his wife Patricia held a small handgun. They urged the protestors to leave their property. Some conceded to the couple’s demands by urging people to move on while others continued yelling at the couple.
Video footage of the incident went viral with many people criticizing the couple for pointing deadly weapons at protestors who appeared to be unarmed.
Mark McCloskey spoke to Chris Cuomo on CNN, arguing that he was scared for his life and he “was protecting my wife, my home, my hearth, my livelihood.”
He continued, “I was a victim of a mob that came through the gate. I didn’t care what color they were — I didn’t care what their motivation was. I was frightened, I was assaulted, and I was in imminent fear that they would run me over, kill me, burn my house.”
McCloskey cited the vandalism and looting of stores during recent protests across the country as a reason he was so frightful. He even called the actions of the protestors on his property an act of “terrorism.”
“What’s the definition of terrorism? To use violation and intimidation to frighten the public,” McCloskey said. “That’s what was happening that night, that’s what happened to me — that’s the damage I suffered.”
When Cuomo argued that terrorism was a strong word considering the protestors didn’t attack him or his property, McCloskey’s response was that he received “death threats” from protestors saying they were going to “burn my house and kill my dog.”
Throughout his press run, McCloskey emphasized that the incident wasn’t about race by saying he represents Black clients. In one current case in particular, he is defending a Black man who was kicked by a St. Louis cop while trying to surrender to the officer in April 2019.
“I’ve spent my career defending people that are defenseless, for people having a hard time making their miracle happen, for people who don’t have a voice,” McCloskey said on Fox News’ Tucker Carlson. “My Black clients love us! The night that this happened, I had some of our Black clients calling us up at 2:30 a.m. telling us how wrong this was the way the press was writing this up.”
“To call us racist is ridiculous,” he added.
According to The St. Louis America, McCloskey and his wife are currently under investigation for the Sunday incident with St. Louis Prosecutor Kimberly Gardner saying she was “alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault.”
Meanwhile, the St. Louis police listed the McCloskeys as victims. According to cops, the McCloskeys said they weren’t initially armed when protestors started to walk past their house.
“Once through the gate, the victims advised the group that they were on a private street and trespassing and told them to leave,” the police report reads. “The group began yelling obscenities and threats of harm to both victims. When the victims observed multiple subjects who were armed, they then armed themselves and contacted police.”
However, this incident report from the police contradicts eyewitness video, which shows protestors moving through the gate to encounter an already armed Mark McCloskey.
The couple has yet to be charged of any crime and their attorney argues their innocence. However, their conduct could be consistent with unlawful use of a weapon, according to a Missouri law that says a person “commits the offense of unlawful use of weapons” if “he or she knowingly exhibits, in the presence of one or more persons, any weapon readily capable of lethal use in an angry or threatening manner.”
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