US couple charged over drawing guns on protesters
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Patricia and Mark McCloskey drew firearms on anti-racism protesters as they marched down a private street outside their Missouri mansion.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON • A US couple who became Internet infamous for drawing an assault rifle and a handgun on protesters outside their Missouri mansion have been charged with a felony.
In a viral video, Mark McCloskey and his wife Patricia, both lawyers, are seen standing barefoot in their garden in St Louis, Missouri, on June 28 as anti-racism protesters march down a private street to demonstrate in front of the mayor's house.
McCloskey, 63, carried an assault rifle, and his wife, 61, was waving a handgun.
"Today, my office filed charges against Mark and Patricia McCloskey following an incident involving peaceful, unarmed protesters on June 28th. It is illegal to wave weapons in a threatening manner at those participating in non-violent protest," the attorney for St Louis, Ms Kimberly Gardner, said in a statement on Monday.
She said she was open to letting the couple take part in one of the circuit attorney office's diversion programmes "designed to reduce unnecessary involvement with the courts", adding: "We must protect the right to peacefully protest and any attempt to chill it through intimidation will not be tolerated."
Missouri Governor Mike Parson, a Republican, told a radio show last week he would likely pardon the McCloskeys if they were charged.
The morning after the protest, McCloskey told a local news channel he and his family were "terrified" when the protesters arrived, calling the march a "mob".
US President Donald Trump retweeted without comment the video of the couple pointing the rifle and handgun at the protesters, the majority of whom were black.
The clip sparked outrage online, with Ms Gardner tweeting that she was "alarmed" to see "peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault".
Faced with a growing backlash, congressman and Trump ally Matt Gaetz came to the McCloskeys' defence on Twitter, attempting to paint the couple as victims of a dystopian future should Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden win the November election.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
