A St Louis couple who made headlines after they were pictured standing on their porch aiming guns at Black Lives Matter protesters claimed up to 500 demonstrators broke down their gate and threatened to kill them.
Photos of the couple, lawyers Mark and Patricia McCloskey, standing outside their palatial property armed with an AR-15 and a handgun were beamed around the world at the end of June.
On Friday, hundreds of demonstrators returned to their upscale neighbourhood to protest once more and the couple were seen tentatively peering from their balcony.
And speaking to Fox News on Tuesday about the first incident, prominent personal injury lawyer Mr McClosky said: ‘It was shocking. The gate came in. Seemingly everybody in the world came forward. I think the estimate is 300-500 people.
St Louis couple Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who made headlines after they were pictured standing on their porch aiming guns at Black Lives Matter protesters claimed up to 500 demonstrators broke down their gate and threatened to kill them
‘They came right towards us. We were preparing to have dinner on the porch and we were literally 70 feet from the gate.
‘By the time we got our guns, by the time I got my gun, the crowd was probably 30 or 40 feet from us. We thought it was the end. People were screaming everything.’
Asked what the protesters were shouting at them, Mrs McClosky added: ‘That they were going to kill us, they were going to come in there, they were going to burn down the house, they were going to be living in our house after I was dead.’
She said they pointed to different rooms in the house and said “that’s going to be my bedroom” before threatening to kill their dog when it barked.
Mr McClosky said he started trying to arrange private security for the house when the couple received a tip saying the protesters were planning to come back to ‘get us and burn the house’.
Photos of the couple standing outside their palatial property armed with an AR-15 and a handgun were beamed around the world at the end of June
The husband and wife added they have had to hire private security to protect their home because police have allegedly been told to stand down. Pictured: The couple’s broken gate after protesters stormed into their garden
‘We had been told that the city police had been ordered to stand down, we had been told there was going to be no official help,’ he said.
‘Our neighbourhood association put out a flyer saying if people broke in they were just going to let them.
‘So we started trying to hire private security and entity after entity said they did not want to get involved.’
The situation became so bad that the couple started ‘hiding’ their valuables and were told by one security firm of former special forces members to ‘walk away’ and ‘abandon’ the house.
Instead, the couple stayed put and said the second protest was loud but non-violent.
In an interview with Tucker Carlson on Thursday, Mark McCloskey recalled the situation that led to his armed standoff with demonstrators last Sunday
The local police were there and the couple did eventually get their own security.
‘We had a good routine on Friday. The local police stood up like champs and we had our own security,’ he added.
‘Everything happened just like it’s supposed to happen. The crowd was loud but they weren’t allowed to do anything wrong.’
At the second protest on Sunday, the couple were seen sitting on their balcony with their attorney as private security patrolled up and down.
Demonstrators chanted and brandished placards outside the residence for around 15 minutes before moving on.
On Friday, hundreds of demonstrators returned to their upscale neighbourhood to protest once more and the couple were seen tentatively peering from their balcony
In an earlier interview recalling what happened, Mr McCloskey claimed his and his wife’s actions had nothing to do with race and that he did not know what race the protesters were.
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.’
And speaking to Fox News on Tuesday about the first incident, prominent personal injury lawyer Mr McClosky said: ‘It was shocking. The gate came in. Seemingly everybody in the world came forward. I think the estimate is 300-500 people’
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 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.