St. Louis Couple Indicted for Brandishing Guns at Racial Justice Protestors
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who brandished guns at racial justice protestors as they marched by their mansion in June, were indicted today on felony charges of unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering.
Lawyer Joel Schwartz said Tuesday afternoon he was told a grand jury indicted his clients but had no further details. According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch a St. Louis court clerk said that the indictment was filed Tuesday but she was not authorized to provide a copy.
The McCloskeys, both attorneys, became infamous when video surfaced of them pointing an AR-15 rifle and a semiautomatic handgun at a group of mostly Black demonstrators as they walked up their street on the way to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson to protest the murder of George Floyd.
A police probable cause statement said protesters feared “being injured due to Patricia McCloskey’s finger being on the trigger, coupled with her excited demeanor” outside their $1.5 million home.
Outside the Carnahan Courthouse on Tuesday, Mark McCloskey criticized the City Counselor’s Office for not prosecuting protesters. He said the city’s “leftist” government is targeting him and his wife “for doing no more than exercising our 2nd Amendment rights.”
“The government chooses to persecute us for doing no more than exercising our right to defend ourselves, our home, our property and our family and now we’re getting drug here time after time after time and for what?” Mark McCloskey said. “We didn’t fire a shot. People were violently protesting in front of our house and screaming death threats and threats of rape and threats of arson. Nobody gets charged but we get charged.”