ST. LOUIS, MO— Friday, July 10, a search warrant was served to married couple, Mark and Patricia McCloskey after video surfaced of them protecting their property with firearms when they were met by several protesters on June 28 in front of their home. Authorization of the search and seizure came from Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner who doesn’t see this as practice of the their Second Amendment right.
The couple was preparing to have dinner at their home in a private community off Kings Highway when they saw that about seventy feet from them, protesters had broken down a gate and were headed toward their property. McCloskey said that they were, “angry, screaming and spitting” and because of the recent weeks of violence in his hometown, he felt inclined to exercise self defense should the mob burn down his home like they did to the downtown 711 a couple weeks prior.
In an interview, McCloskey told Fox News host, Tucker Carlson that when the police came to seize their firearm, “They were very nice. They were almost apologetic, they didn’t want to have to be there.” Mark’s wife who he referred to as, Patty was protecting the cops, acknowledging that they would be scrutinized by the public if their faces were shown on TV. According to Mark, they all complied.
The day of the stand-off, McCloskey did not shoot anyone, but “feared for his life” due to the disproportionate ratio of the mob to he and his wife. He said, “I thought they would come into the house, kill us and burn the house down.” The couple moved into their home 32 years ago and built it from the ground up.
At a press conference, Gardner promised to have them punished stating, “I am disturbed. Peaceful protesters were met with guns and violent assault. We must protect the rights to peacefully protest and attempts to chill it through intimidation or use of force will not be tolerated.”
Gardner has been accused of being unlawful. Attorney General, Eric Schmitt tweeted on June 3, “Our office has learned that every single one of the St. Louis looters and rioters arrested were released back onto the streets by local prosecutor Kim Gardner.” Gardner replied on Twitter denying those allegations. She stated that she needs “evidence to charge.”
McCloskey who claims he has spent his life defending people didn’t see this as racist. He said, “It had nothing to do with race. I wasn’t worried what the race was. When the mob came through my gate, I was worried I was going to be killed.”
His attorney, Albert Watkins, confirmed that there is a risk that the couple will be prosecuted because of the, “political animal in the district attorney’s office” but, “If the law prevails, long-standing Missouri law prevails, they’re fine.”
