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A White Couple Was Caught on Video Pointing Guns at Black Lives Matter Protesters in St. Louis

The middle-aged couple came out of their mansion to argue with the protesters, “yelling and pointing guns at protesters as they walked by.”
​Twitter/Daniel Shular
Twitter/Daniel Shular

An armed white couple waved their guns and yelled at Black Lives Matter demonstrators in St. Louis on Sunday, during a protest march to St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home.

At least 500 people peacefully marched through St. Louis’ Central West End neighborhood on Sunday demanding Krewson’s resignation, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Krewson appeared in a Facebook Live video last week reading the names and addresses of people who had called for defunding the city’s police department.

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Krewson has since apologized. “I would like to apologize for identifying individuals who presented letters to me at City Hall as I was answering a routine question during one of my updates earlier today,” Krewson said in a statement. “While this is public information, I did not intend to cause distress or harm to anyone.”

During the protest, the couple came out of a mansion to argue with the protesters, “yelling and pointing guns — one of which looks like an AR-15-style rifle —at protesters as they walked by,” the Post-Dispatch said. Several pictures and videos of the couple were later uploaded to social media, showing them screaming and wantonly waving their guns in the direction of the protesters.

The two were later identified by the Riverfront Times as personal injury attorneys Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The mansion they lived in was built by an heiress to the Busch beer family, according to a St. Louis Magazine profile from 2018. Calls to the McCloskeys' law firm on Monday morning went unanswered.

On Sunday night, President Donald Trump retweeted an ABC News video showing the couple pointing the guns at protesters. He added no commentary to the retweet.

The protest ended at Krewson’s house, where protesters painted “Resign” on the street.

Protester Rodney Brown told the Post-Dispatch that Krewson’s naming of activists was “extremely fearful because we should be able to write to our public officials, and the fact that she doesn’t feel she has to be accountable or protect us.”

“It’s a very violent gesture,” he added.

Cover: Twitter/Daniel Shular