Sitting this one out: Gun-toting St. Louis couple watch from balcony of their mansion as Black Lives Matter protesters return – but this time they have security guards to protect them
- Mark and Patricia McCloskey drew guns on Black Lives Matter protesters outside their palatial St. Louis home last Sunday
- The couple claimed they feared for their safety and believed their mansion would be torched by the mob of demonstrators
- The incident sparked a divided reaction across America; some praised the pair for defending their home, while others believed their antics were over the top
- On Friday, Protesters returned to the front of the home to stage another demonstration
- Crowds chanted and brandished placards as the McCloskeys watched on passively from their balcony
Black Lives Matter protesters have returned to the mansion of a Missouri couple who last week drew guns on activists who broke into their gated community during a demonstration.
Photos of Mark and Patricia McCloskey standing outside their palatial St. Louis property armed with an AR-15 and a handgun were beamed around the world last Sunday, with the scene coming to symbolize the polarization currently gripping America.
Mark McCloskey, who is a prominent personal injury attorney, has defended drawing his weapon, saying he thought ‘death was coming through his gate’.
But on Friday, he and his wife were far more passive as hundreds of demonstrators returned to their upscale neighborhood to stage a protest outside their lavish home.
The pair were seen tentatively peering out at the protest from the confines of their balcony, in the presence of their attorney.
Black Lives Matter protesters have returned to the mansion of a Mark and Patricia McCloskey who last week drew guns on activists who broke down a barricade and marched into their gated community during a demonstration. This time around, the couple were seen tentatively peering out from the confines of their balcony. Patrica is pictured left, and Mark is at far right. A friend, clad in a pink shirt, is seen center
Demonstrators chanted and brandished placards outside the residence for around 15 minutes before moving on. Private security was seen pacing up and down the balcony while keeping a watchful eye on the crowd.
Hundreds of people turned out for the demonstration – five days after the couple drew weapons on protesters.
Private security was seen securing barriers outside the home prior to the protest.
Demonstrators chanted and brandished placards outside the residence for around 15 minutes before moving on.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, Mark McCloskey recalled the situation that led to his armed standoff with demonstrators last Sunday.
‘My wife and I were preparing to have dinner, maybe 70 feet from the gate,’ he told Carlson.
Protesters walk through the gate of a private street not far from the home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey in St. Louis on Friday
‘By the time we looked up and we saw the marchers coming down Kings Highway and getting loud, we looked over the gate and there’s no police there. Our private security wasn’t there. Nobody’s there.
‘I look over to my wife and then the gate bursts open and then all these People start coming in. And then a flood of people start coming in,’ he said.
‘They are angry, they’re screaming, they’ve got spittle coming out of their mouth they’re coming toward the house.’
McCloskey continued that after watching a 7/11 be burned down with no intervention in a protest in the city on June 22, he felt that he and his wife had to act and they went into the home to grab a handgun and an AR-15.
‘I turned to my wife and I said, “Oh my God, we’re absolutely alone. There is nobody here to protect us”,’ he told Fox.
‘When I saw that mob coming through the gate with their rage and their anger, I thought that we would be overrun in a second,’ he said.
‘By the time I was out there with my rifle, the people were 20 or 30 feet from my front wall. I’ve got a little wall that separates the house from my front yard. I was literally afraid that within seconds they would surmount the wall and come into the house, kill us, burn the house down and everything that I had worked for and struggled for the last 32 years.’
‘I saw it all going up in flames and my life destroyed in an instant and I did what I thought I had to do to protect my hearth, my home and my family.’
McCloskey claimed that his actions had nothing to do with race and that he didn’t care what race the protesters were.
‘Here’s the interesting thing, I spent my career defending people that are defenseless for people who are having a hard time making their oracle happen, for people that don’t have a voice,’ he continued.
‘My black clients love us. The night this happened I had some of our black clients calling us, telling us how wrong it was the way the press was writing us up, telling us how wrong it was that we should be portrayed as racist.
‘This is what I do for a living. I help people that are down or that need a hand and people that need a voice,’ McCloskey added.
‘To call us racist is ridiculous and it had nothing to do with race. I wasn’t worried what the race was [of] the mob that came through my gate, I was worried that I was going to be killed. I didn’t care what race they were.’
The video of the couple’s standoff went viral with some supporting the pair’s right to protect their private property and others claiming that they broke the law by threatening a peaceful protest.
Police said Monday that people in the crowd yelled threats at the couple and that the McCloskeys would not be charged.
They added that they are still investigating but labeled it a case of trespassing and assault by intimidation against the couple by protesters in the racially diverse crowd.
According to the NRA, state law does not prohibit the open carrying of firearms, but does prohibit exhibiting ‘any weapon readily capable of lethal use’ in an angry or threatening manner in the presence of one or more persons.
Exhibiting a weapon in this way would likely be a Class D felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a fine not to exceed $5,000.
According to the St. Louis American, however, the ‘Castle Doctrine’ allows people to use deadly force to attack an intruder on their property.
