St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters saw threat by 'bad actors,' lawyer says;

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St. Louis couple who pointed guns at protesters saw threat by 'bad actors,' lawyer says; protester says he feared 'blood bath'

Kim Bell , Rachel Rice , Joel Currier 39 min ago

ST. LOUIS — Personal-injury lawyers Mark and Patricia McCloskey, who pointed a rifle and pistol at protesters Sunday night in front of their Portland Place mansion, said through their lawyer Monday that they felt threatened by two “bad actors” who destroyed an iron gate to their private street and lobbed insults at them.

“My clients, as melanin-deficient human beings, are completely respectful of the message Black Lives Matter needs to get out, especially to whites,” said lawyer Albert Watkins. He said the McCloskeys “acted lawfully” out of “fear and apprehension, the genesis of which was not race-related.”

A live stream from the protest seemed to contradict that protesters gained access to the street by breaking down the gate, and one protester who witnessed the showdown told the Post-Dispatch that marchers took notice of the McCloskeys only when the couple emerged from their home armed and threatening to kill them.

“Several people were asking them to put their guns away or to stop pointing them at us,” said protester James Cooper. “I was afraid (Patricia McCloskey) would open fire or accidentally discharge into the crowd. I was afraid someone among us would legitimately fear for their life and react defensively, which could’ve sparked a blood bath.”

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Police said they are investigating the incident on Portland Place but are labeling it as a case of trespassing and fourth-degree assault by intimidation. A police spokeswoman referred a reporter to “the courts” as to whether the couple were within their rights to point guns at protesters.

Castle doctrine

Anders Walker, a constitutional law professor at St. Louis University, said Monday that it was “very dangerous” for the McCloskeys to engage with protesters by brandishing guns, but Missouri’s Castle Doctrine allows them to defend their property on Portland Place, a private street.

"At any point that you enter the property, they can then, in Missouri, use deadly force to get you off the lawn,” Walker said, calling the state’s Castle Doctrine a “force field” that “indemnifies you, and you can even pull the trigger in Missouri.”

Luckily, Walker said, no one got shot.

“There’s no right to protest on those streets,” Walker said. “The protesters thought they had a right to protest, but as a technical matter, they were not allowed to be there. … It’s essentially a private estate. If anyone was violating the law, it was the protesters. In fact, if (the McCloskeys) have photos of the protesters, they could go after them for trespassing.”

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Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.