Protesters Walking by Mansion Confronted by Armed Couple

White couple in St. Louis pointed handgun, rifle at peaceful demonstrators headed to mayor's home
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 29, 2020 8:33 AM CDT

A march to Mayor Lyda Krewson's home over the weekend through St. Louis led to an ominous confrontation between peaceful protesters and a white couple at one of the residences along the way. Krewson has been facing resignation demands after recently doxxing residents for writing letters asking to defund the police, and the march Sunday evening was to end at her home to re-up that request. But as the group of at least 500 people walked past one mansion in the high-end Central West End neighborhood, a man and a woman—he with a rifle, she with a handgun—stood outside the home, pointing their weapons and yelling at the people walking past, per CBS News. People in the march urged fellow marchers to ignore the couple and keep walking. KMOV reports that photos and footage of the couple—one clip here—went viral on social media.

On Monday morning, President Trump himself retweeted an ABC News video showing the couple in front of their home. A man who identified himself as the homeowner tells KMOV that a crowd of 100 or so people busted through the gates on his private street and "rushed towards my home where my family was having dinner outside and put us in fear of our lives. ... We were all alone facing an angry mob." Heavy.com identifies the couple as Mark and Patricia McCloskey, personal injury lawyers who work together, though the Washington Post—which notes that the five-story residence in the video was once deemed the city's "most dazzling mansion" by St. Louis Magazine—hasn't been able to confirm if the couple who own the home are the same two people in the video. The AP notes it hasn't heard back yet from the St. Louis Police Department on whether it knew about the incident. (More St. Louis stories.)

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