Couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor’s home
ST.
LOUIS (AP) — A white couple who stood outside their St. Louis mansion
and pointed guns at protesters who were marching toward the mayor’s home
to demand her resignation support the Black Lives Matter movement and
don’t want to become heroes to those who oppose the cause, their
attorney said Monday.
Video posted online showed Mark McCloskey,
63, and his 61-year-old wife, Patricia, standing outside their
Renaissance palazzo-style home Sunday night in the city’s well-to-do
Central West End neighborhood. He could be heard yelling while holding a
long-barreled gun. His wife stood next to him with a handgun.
Mark McCloskey told KMOV-TV
that he and wife, who are personal injury lawyers, were facing an
“angry mob” on their private street and feared for their lives Sunday
night.
No charges were brought against McCloskeys. Police said
they were still investigating but labeled it a case of trespassing and
assault by intimidation against the couple by protesters in the racially
diverse crowd.
However, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner issued a
statement later Monday characterizing what happened differently and
saying her office was working with police to investigate the
confrontation.
“I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the
weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent
assault,” she said. “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.”
Their attorney, Albert Watkins,
told The Associated Press on Monday that the couple are long-time civil
rights advocates and support the message of the Black Lives Matter
movement. He said they grabbed their guns when two or three protesters —
who were white — violently threatened the couple and their property and
that of their neighbors.
“The most important thing for them is
that their images (holding the guns) don’t become the basis for a
rallying cry for people who oppose the Black Lives Matter message,”
Watkins said. “They want to make it really clear that they believe the
Black Lives Matter message is important.”
The marchers were angry
at Mayor Lyda Krewson for reading aloud the names and addresses of
several residents who wrote letters calling for defunding the police
department. The group of at least 500 people chanted, “Resign, Lyda!
Take the cops with you!” news outlets reported.
Police said the
couple had heard a loud commotion in the street and saw a large group of
people break an iron gate marked with “No Trespassing” and “Private
Street” signs. The video showed the protesters walking through the gate
and it was unclear when it was damaged.
The McCloskeys’ home,
which was featured in the local St. Louis Magazine after undergoing a
renovation, was appraised at $1.15 million.
President Donald Trump retweeted an ABC News account of the confrontation without comment.
Krewson
has faced demands for her resignation since a Facebook Live briefing on
Friday in which the white mayor read the names of those who wrote
letters about wanting to defund the police force. The video was removed
and Krewson apologized the same day, saying she didn’t intend to cause
distress.
The Rev. Darryl Gray, an organizer with ExpectUs, who
used a megaphone to urge protesters to keep moving after the couple
brandished firearms, blamed Krewson, saying she “threw gasoline on an
already burning fire” by releasing people’s home addresses.
“In
this climate of hatred and this climate of fear and the concern
activists have for safety, we didn’t feel that this was the most prudent
thing to do in this particular time,” Gray said. “It is a sign that she
just does not know or does not care.”
The names and letters are considered public records, but Krewson’s actions caused a heavy backlash.
“As
a leader, you don’t do stuff like that. … It’s only right that we
visit her at her home,” said state Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, a St. Louis
Democrat, speaking into a megaphone at the march.
Protesters nationwide have been pushing to “ defund the police ” over the death of George Floyd and other Black people at the hands of law enforcement. Floyd, who was handcuffed, died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly eight minutes.
Krewson, a longtime alderwoman, was elected
St. Louis’ first female mayor in 2017 by pledging to work to reduce
crime and improve poor neighborhoods. She and her two young children
were in the car in front of their home in 1995 when her husband, Jeff,
was slain during a carjacking attempt.
Homicides have spiked in recent years in St. Louis, which annually ranks among the most violent cities in the nation.