A leading St.
Louis prosecutor has confirmed that the lawyer couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in front of their mansion could be facing charges.
The incident occurred in Forest Park, St. Louis, where Mark and Patricia McCloskey, both lawyers, walked to the front of their home to confront the protesters that passed by their mansion on Sunday evening.
According to the couple, they came rushing out of their home with guns because they were afraid for their lives, whereas the demonstrators allegedly broke down their private gate and trespassed on their private property.
Now, however, a leading prosecutor in the city confirmed she’s thinking about laying charges against the couple despite the police choosing not to press charges.
According to St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner, she’s working with the authorities to unravel potential threats that the couple made to the protesters during their march.
“I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault,” the prosecutor said in a statement.
“We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated.”
As Gardner went on to suggest, “the use of force against those exercising their First Amendment rights” won’t be tolerated.
The prosecutor’s statement follows shortly after the police decided not to press charges against the couple.
“The victims stated they were on their property when they heard a loud commotion coming from the street. When the victims went to investigate the commotion, they observed a large group of subjects forcefully break an iron gate marked with ‘No Trespassing’ and ‘Private Street’ signs,” the police reported.
“Once through the gate, the victims advised the group that they were on a private street and trespassing and told them to leave. 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. The investigation is ongoing.”
According to McCloskey, the couple confronted the demonstrators after they broke down the private gate that leads to their mansion.
“A mob of at least 100 smashed through the historic wrought iron gates of Portland Place, destroying them, rushed towards my home where my family was having dinner outside and put us in fear of our lives,” Mr. McCloskey said in an interview with KMOV-TV.
“This is all private property. There are no public sidewalks or public streets. We were told that we would be killed, our home burned and our dog killed. We were all alone facing an angry mob.”
As the lawyer went on to say, the protesters became “enraged” after he told them they were trespassing on private property.
“There was then a hoard of people coming through the broken gate and the gate was broken in pieces. And there were, I don’t know how many people there were, a tremendous number of people, all angry, all shouting, all coming towards us,” he added.
According to McCloskey, who also spoke out about the incident to KSDK, he thought his family could end up dead and his home burned if they didn’t defend themselves.
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Replaced!