Mark McCloskey, the man in St. Louis, Missouri, who aimed a rifle at peaceful anti-police brutality protesters as his wife Patricia swung her tiny pistol around on Sunday evening, painted the situation as some kind of French Revolution in miniature.
During an interview Monday on local NBC affiliate KSDK, McCloskey claimed that the protesters had broken the gate in front of Portland Place, the gated community where he resides, which prompted him and his wife to retrieve their guns while ordering the demonstrators to leave.
The protesters were “enraged” by his warning, according to McCloskey, and threatened to kill him and burn his house down.
“I really thought it was storming the Bastille, that we would be dead and the house would be burned and there was nothing we could do about it,” McCloskey said. “It was a huge and frightening crowd.”
When asked if the protesters had trespassed on his personal property, McCloskey argued that the entire neighborhood was “private property,” therefore “being inside that gate is like being in my living room.”
Available footage of the incident shows the demonstrators peacefully moving along on the sidewalk.
Michelle Woodling, the public information officer at the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, told TPM in an emailed statement that law enforcement had opened an investigation into the incident.
“We do not have anything further to provide at this time,” Woodling responded when TPM asked for a confirmation of McCloskey’s account.
The protesters were marching toward St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home while calling for her resignation after she publicly announced the names and addresses of citizens who had written letters urging her to defund the police.
On Monday morning, President Donald Trump retweeted a video of the McCloskeys aiming their guns at the demonstrators.
Watch McCloskey below:
"I really thought it was storming the Bastille." St. Louis pink shirted gunman describes horror as protestors walked along sidewalk adjoining his home. pic.twitter.com/ya2DxajKOQ
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) June 29, 2020
