St. Louis man who pointed gun at protesters says he was "scared for his life"
The man who stood outside his mansion in St. Louis and pointed a gun at protesters said he was "scared for his life." In an interview with CNN on Tuesday, Mark McCloskey told Chris Cuomo he was "in imminent fear that they would run me over, kill me, burn my house."
"I was a person scared for my life who was protecting my wife, my home, my hearth, my livelihood. I was a victim of a mob that came through the gate," Mark McCloskey said.
"I didn't care what color they were. I didn't care what their motivation was," McCloskey said. "I was frightened. I was assaulted."
McCloskey and his wife, who are both lawyers, were seen on video pointing guns at protesters on Sunday night. Video shows the white couple yelling while holding their guns in St. Louis' well-to-do Central West End neighborhood. They were heavily criticized for their reaction to the protesters, who were marching toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation.
KMOV reports video on social media showed protesters opening and walking through an unbroken gate to the community. It is unclear when the gate was damaged, or who destroyed it, according to KMOV.
Rasheen Aldridge, who helped lead the protest, told KMOV protesters were peaceful and no threats were made.
When asked by Cuomo on CNN how he feels "about becoming the face of political resistance to the Black Lives Matter movement," McCloskey said, "that is a completely ridiculous statement."
McCloskey's attorney, Albert S. Watkins, joined him for the CNN interview.
"My clients are completely behind and endorsed the message of BLM," Watkins said, CNN reported. "What they are not capable of doing is embracing the abject utilization of that noble message that we all need to hear over and over and over again as a license to rape, rob, pillage bowl over all of our rights."
The McCloskeys are personal injury lawyers. They are currently representing a man seen on video being kicked by a now-former Woodson Terrace, Missouri officer after a carjacking in May 2019.
"There needs to be some voice for the people who are voiceless and I'd like to think that we're that entity," Mark McCloskey has told KMOV.
Police said they were investigating the incident but labeled it a case of trespassing and assault by intimidation against the couple by protesters, the Associated Press reported.
On Monday, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner issued a statement in which she characterized what happened differently. She said her office was working with police to investigate, the AP reported.
"I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault," Gardner 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," she said