In June, we met Mark and Patricia McCloskey aka the Ken and Karen of St. Louis, who ran out of their palatial mansion with semi-automatic weapons, which they pointed at the peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters who were on their street. We soon learned more about the McCloskeys, like the fact that they’re both personal injury lawyers, and that they’re pretty Republican and MAGA. The McCloskeys chose to tell “their side” of the story to people like Tucker Carlson, which tells you all you need to know. Well, good news! The McCloskeys have been charged with a crime.
Mark and Patricia McCloskey, the St. Louis couple who gained national notoriety from images of them pointing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their mansion, were both charged on Monday with felony unlawful use of a weapon, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner announced.
However, if Missouri Gov. Mike Parson stays true to his word, the charges may be a mere symbolic gesture.
Gardner said that the McCloskeys, both attorneys in their 60s, risked inciting violence during a non-violent protest on June 28. Video from the incident showed Mark with a long-barrelled gun and Patricia with a small handgun. No shots were fired, but Gardner believes that the McCloskeys were still behaving unlawfully.
“It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner,” Gardner told AP. She added that she would be recommending a diversion program such as community service if the McCloskeys were convicted, rather than jail time.
Many Republicans and gun-rights advocates have defended the couple, claiming that they had a right to protect their property from the perceived threat, but the McCloskeys’ most important supporter is Gov. Parson. In a radio interview on Friday, Parson said that the couple “had every right to protect themselves” and, while he stopped short of guaranteeing a pardon, he responded, “I think that’s exactly what would happen” when asked if he would consider one.
They weren’t merely protecting their property, they were threatening peaceful protesters on the street (streets are public). Imagine caring more about Karen and Ken being charged with a crime (which they clearly committed) and getting a slap on the wrist than the fact that the federal government has sent secret police into cities to unlawfully kidnap, detain, harass and injure protesters.
Photos courtesy of social media.
You can protect your home with deadly force. Not your yard. And certainly not the public street running past your home.
From my understanding, the “castle” doctrine includes your yard and vehicle. But pointing a weapon at someone is acceptable only if someone is coming at you with deadly force on your premises, which was clearly not the case. It has to be a serious attempt on your life. For example, little kids using your lawn to cut through on the way to the school bus, you can’t just point your weapon at them.
It’s not reasonable to assume that protesters are going to break in your home, hurt you, and commit robbery when they’re just marching by your house and chanting. I hope they get convicted.
It depends on the state law whether the castle doctrine is a defense and how far it extends.
It wasn’t their yard though. It was a strip of land that they are claiming squatter’s rights on. The neighborhood association disagrees.
They live on a private street that is gated. That has been their excuse for why they felt threatened. Total BS but it will probably work in their defense.
this is also not the first time they pulled out a gun b/c they were mad someone was on that parcel of land – per their own admission, Mark McCloskey was pointing his gun when they confronted a new neighbor for cutting through their property (they claim to now be friends with that neighbor)
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/portland-place-couple-who-confronted-protesters-have-a-long-history-of-not-backing-down/article_281d9989-373e-53c3-abcb-ecd0225dd287.html
Streets and common ground owned by the homeowners assn is most likely not part of the castle doctrine.
The problem is that they live on one of those private roads that rich people in St Louis liked to build back in the day. When all this was happening, I came across a fascinating podcast discussing the history of the private communities and classisms in St Louis. It’s really not all that straightforward. I’m sure these jerks will get off with a slap on the wrist.
This is correct. The streets are still public but they built gates around them when there were race riots in St Louis. So the public can access the street, but the gates are a major deterrent. These streets and the homes on them are unbelievable, and when you enter you kinda need have the name of the person you’re going to see. Haha. I used to live a block from their house.
Best ‘feel good’ news story I’ve read today so far – sweet justice!
Hahaha agree 💯 started the day with a smile after reading this
Gotta love that top photo with the Rambo stance. “Stay back or I’ll shoot my wife!”
It’s miraculous that no one got shot.
Rambo in Dockers, LOL. I’m sure they think they look badass, but oh no, they do not.
But yes, thank goodness no one was hurt or killed.
It is a minor miracle that no one was hurt. Neither of them knew how to manage a gun properly. And I could not agree more re: this is not how a bada$$ looks lol
Lol! They do not seem like they know how to wield those things. Also, they apparently destroyed some beehives close to their property that had been used for years by a nearby synagogue, so…they seem awful.
Article about the hives: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.5646373
yes, I mentioned the beehive thing below. so unnecessary and hateful.
these are NOT good people.
The video I’ve seen shows the protesters walking on the public area, not on their property and not being threatening in any way. But that is what when you tell people that non whites are dangerous and violent. White people get scared and pull out their guns cause they’ve been indoctrinated to be scared of non whites. I’m white and when I dated a non white guy, I started to realize I had some bad misconceptions that I had learned, idk where I learned them. But there were certain things I had learned that were not accurate and I had to kind of reset my thinking in some areas.
But anyway back to these peeps. Certain people teach that non whites are dangerous so when these indoctrinated people are forced to interact w non whites, they blow things out of proportion because they’re so scared. Jmo
Not a public road though. That’s the issue.
If laws allow white people to pull out guns anytime they “feel threatened or are afraid”, they’ll be toting guns all the time. Because a lot of white people are racists who assume any person of color is up to no good. We’ve had enough exposure now to ALL be aware of this faulty thinking, so there’s absolutely NO EXCUSE for it.
Oh no, I wasn’t saying it was justified. Sorry it came across that way.
I thought it’s a private street, and the protesters were armed?…
PS. I’m not on anyone’s side, personally for me it’s shocking that everyone has weapons in US… It’s so dangerous and inappropriate…
My understanding is it’s a gated community and private street, but the protestors were not armed. There was no excuse to come bursting out onto the lawn with an automatic weapon.
The other neighbors welcomed the protesters and opened the gate for them, cheered them, and gave them water.
And the McCloskeys are apparently not popular in the neighborhood, wonder why? It’s funny/sad how they call themselves “urban pioneers” for buying and apparently fortifying a mansion in the city and yet have no interest in being part of the community.
@Esmom, they are not popular with their neighbors because they are lawsuit-happy. From a July 12th St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on them: “When Black Lives Matter protesters marched up Kingshighway on June 28 and turned through an iron gate into the magnificent private street of Portland Place, they encountered a couple who have for years, nearly constantly, sued other people and ordered people off their property.”
Sadezilla, I know. I read an article about how they destroyed some beehives next to their property that some school kids had made for a project and that the guy is estranged from his immediate family because of property-related lawsuits. It’s like they took their law degrees and weaponized them. Lovely people.
The street ‘belongs’ to the neighborhood association, not the McCloskeys. And the city pays for upkeep of the street.
The protesters were not armed with anything more than their actual arms.
The McCloskeys have pulled guns on their neighbors before. And willfully ‘invade’ neighboring properties to destroy things are not theirs to destroy. And then they sue anyone who complains.
Found this on the internet so must be true 🙂
St. Louis City Counselor Julian K. Bush affirmed that Portland, as well as several other streets in the West End, are indeed private. “They are owned by the property owners, and the owners pay for them, the street repairs and maintenance,” Bush said Monday
they destroyed a bee hive that was being used by kids at a religious school to get honey for their holiday/religious meals because it bordered their property.
they sued to enforce a neighborhood rule that prevents unmarried couples from living in their gated community to prevent a gay couple from living there.
their neighbors apparently all hate them. these are not good people.
You should be on the side of the peaceful protesters who were absolutely not armed. And not everyone in the US has a gun.
“Everyone” does not have weapons in the US, fyi. Most liberals do not. I actually only know one person who owns guns.
Most people I know in the US do not own guns. The people I know who do have them use them for hunting – deer, for example, during deer season. They do not wave them around indiscriminately at passerby.
I did know of one guy once, who was kind of a loser, who every time he had any interaction with any neighbor about anything, would wear his firearm and arrange his shirt is such a way that the gun was visible. It was an implied threat … do what I say or else, see my gun? yeah, do what I say or else. No one liked him, no one dealt with him if they didn’t have to, and even then, would call the condo manager or development security if they had to deal with him for any reason. Thankfully he sold his place and moved out, who knows where. My friend who lived in the unit below his was so glad to see him go.
This couple are two losers and deserve to be charged for such careless and threatening use of firearms. And the governor’s an idiot for promising to pardon them from a wristslap.
So sad when people promote stereotypes. The peaceful and unarmed protesters were on their way to the St Louis mayor’s home, they had no interest in the McClusky’s. The mayor had read live on facebook several suggestions sent to her of ways to spend some of the police budget. She also read out loud the writers names and home addresses. That was a low and possibly dangerous thing to do and this is why protesters were marching to the mayors home.
I think this has gotten lost with the fervor.
Somebody please tell me that their business is going down the gurgler because of this!
The woman who ‘rehomed’ her adopted son gained 15% more viewers to her site. How’s that for disgusting?
NOOOOO. Humanity is doomed
Yay! Good news!
Pleased charges were filed. He was on Chris Cuomo with his attorney and received a great drill down from Chris. “Feeling threatened is not being threatened.” Both are receiving negative publicity. I hope it affects their law firm business.
He will definitely pardon them. Unfortunately he is the governor of my state (was not elected as he assumed the position when the previous governor was ousted). He also said this in a press conference:
Parson continued: “And if they do get Covid-19, which they will—and they will when they go to school—they’re not going to the hospitals. They’re not going to have to sit in doctor’s offices. They’re going to go home, and they’re going to get over it.”
Swack
Yes my state also,
sad to say right now.
Gated community, other neighbors welcomed these peaceful protesters.
This couple had no reason except hatred, protesters weren’t even on their lawn. They enabled by the divisiveness in our country, check out our wonderful Governor by default.
MO-STL resident here. Much like Georgia gov and Atlanta mayor this is a case of white republican men trying to invalidate decisions made by black women.
STL resident also and agree.
The virus comments pissed me off. MO residents, can’t you recall this jerk? I know FL can’t (why not?). Why can’t people recall the governors in MO and TX. They all need to be fired.
Apparently he could be impeached but not recalled. He was elected Lieutenant Gov and took office as Gov when Gov Greitens resigned.
@Lizzie. Well that’s dumb. We should be able to recall people who won’t work for us.
Ugh he sounds horrible on so many levels. If a state has a Republican Governor too bad they’re not more like Md’s Governor Hogan in dealing with Covid.
Are her legs normal? Or what is going on? The both seem very bloated tbh. Would not be surprised to hear they were drunk atm they did this
She def looks like she’s had too much from the wine box.
All of that money laundering for the cartel really has taken its toll on Marty and Wendy….
Lol
That’s called cankles.
Dead. hahaha
@Starkille Legs like a piano. She should be on castors.
Someone said she looks like the Hamburgler and that is all I can see now.
Look how quickly the little people get charged, but the government/president can do every crime in the book…..and nothing happens. I’m glad these people are charged, but nothing ever happens to Trump.
Yet.
The Well Actually Gymnastics I’ve seen play out over this incident are jaw dropping. As a non-American, it’s incomprehensible and terrifying.
Mr. & Mrs Smith, the early onset Alzheimers sequel.
LOL. That movie has held up IMHO.
I would love to see the security video of the gate area. Gun nuts are claiming the McCloskeys were justified because the protesters broke the gate and trespassed. However, every single video shows the protesters going through an open, intact gate. Some videos show one of the residents holding the gate open for them. Yet all the gun nuts show a picture of a broken gate, which was broken some time later in the day. I believe McCloskey went and smashed the gate himself to cover his ass. He has a history of doing such things and the neighbors despise them.
This made me so happy when I saw the headline, then I scrolled down and as m depressed again that the governor is most interested in protecting them. A lot of PI attorneys are heavy political contributors. I would love to know if they have donated to the governor before because of the conflict of interest.
Delete
They will be protected by the Governor as well they should be
Vick why should they be protected by the governor? They have no bearing to be protected? It’s not like they were involved with state matters that require their protection? Get real!!
Please explain why they should be protected by the Governor.
Because the governor went on air and said he would pardon these two violent loonies (because they’re privileged white folks and guns are a religion now). Laws don’t apply to them, silly.
trolls gonna troll.
The un-elected gov should be doing his job and protecting children of the state and he is not.
The local St Louis paper had a story about them a few weeks ago about how they are the NEIGHBORS FROM HELL. They sued to get control of common property in the development, sued neighbors because they didn’t like what they were doing, sued relatives because they were promised property, even buying that big house was the result of a lawsuit.
https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/portland-place-couple-who-confronted-protesters-have-a-long-history-of-not-backing-down/article_281d9989-373e-53c3-abcb-ecd0225dd287.html
@ Harper, these 2 are certifiable!! The sound like absolute hell and they must be 2 of the worst people on the planet! it’s pretty bad when your neighbors and the home trustees hate you too!! They should NEVER be allowed to own guns! I am glad that no one was hurt!!
That article read like a horror story 😱
If I didn’t know, I’d think the whole thing was an SNL skit. Nope. There are actual American citizens out there behaving this way for all the world to see. And defending it! With people behind them defending it! F*cking insane asylum were collectively living in, and we’re supposed to do what? Bend over? If that nightmare wins another four years, we’ll be staring at a civil war.
I was thinking these folks were minor characters on Ozark, weren’t they?
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt told “Fox News @ Night” Monday that he is seeking to have the charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey dismissed, calling it “a political prosecution.”
Meanwhile, the MO state atty gen’l has filed a motion to dismiss the charges and posted an Extreme TL;DR thread on Twitter reciting all his reasons, which align with the governor and then some. These kooks will be back on Tucker Carlson’s sh*t show crowing about how they’ve been “totally exonerated.”
Can these people be recalled?
Not recall in MO, they can be impeached but it is a red state.
Community service for a felony involving firearms? Nope, that’s not good enough. They could have killed someone.
Thank you! I made a similar comment below.
Is it a crime to snort bath salts as a recreational drug? Because this lady looks like she would be guilty.
LOL thanks for this!
Good.
It would be sweet if other lawyers took up the cases of the protesters suing them for unlawful threats. (Or whatever applicable law — clearly I’m not a lawyer 🙂
perhaps a class action suit?
holding protesters hostage?
It’s a private street not maintained with government funds but people in the gated community let the protestors in.
At some point they will claim they were “protecting the protestors” to try and get out of it. I do hope they are convicted a felony on them means automatic disbarment? The only thing that hurts people like this are in the wallet. But who am I kidding the Cinnamon Nahzee will pardon them.
I had one thought….statistically there are more black people in jail than there are white people….and jails are not segregated…so wouldn’t it be perfect if they had to go to jail? Then they would maybe have a real reason to be in fear of their lives. They are perfect examples of puffery…and they are an absolute embarrassment to their race….along with that jerk who abused AOC…It’s 9:55 a.m. and I’m exhausted already.
I hope they lose absolutely everything.
Charges will be dismissed bc it’s a private street with private sidewalks, not maintained by the city.
They are defending their acts via Castle doctrine.
Missouri is a very gun-obsessed, racist place.
They do not own the street. The homeowners assn owns the street. Regardless, it doesn’t matter who pays for maintenance of the street – what they did was illegal the charges still apply.
All of the white republican men in the state seem to think it is their ticket to Fox news to try to overrule the black female prosecutor.
You are preaching to the wrong person Lizzie.
I won’t even live in that racist city.
I am sure the Great Floating Orange Turd will pardon them before the week is over.
Community service for a FELONY? (And what they did was indeed a felony.) I certainly hope the esteemed DAs of St Louis extend the same privilege to their citizens of color who commit commensurate crimes.
Not sure how it works in the US, but where I am from you would definitely get disbarred for a criminal conviction!
In this case that would be a dream come true.
The fact that it’s seen as normal that people can have semi automatic weapons at home is mind boggling.
The only place that scene would be normal is some end of the world zombie apocalypse movie.
I’m in the minority here. Please stop with the all protest have been peaceful. No they have not. I saw the video and it was a mixed crowd of people and they were clearly ILLEGALLY TRESPASSING. I actually don’t disagree with what they did. I’ve seen way too many people getting beat up, killed and robbed lately. Maybe 90% of protesters are peaceful but sorry to tell you there’s a percentage that are not peaceful at all.