Yesterday Mark McCloskey and Patricia McCloskey, who has also become known as Karen and Ken throughout social media, made headlines as they were captured on video pointing their weapons at protesters, as the protesters marched past their home to the home of Mayor Lyda Krewson to demand her resignation.
Now it looks like an investigation has been launched after the viral video has made its rounds.
According to USA Today, Circuit Attorney Kimberly Gardner that her office is working with police to investigate the incident. She said, “I am alarmed at the events that occurred over the weekend, where peaceful protesters were met by guns and a violent assault. We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated.”
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Albert Watkins, the attorney for the McCloskey’s said that Gardner is “is possessed of the legal wherewithal to understand some of these fundamental tenets.”
He continued to argue his clients’ stance in the situation and said “Any suggestion that my clients acted unlawfully is one which would demonstrate unequivocally the wholesale absence of appreciation for longstanding law in the state of Missouri.”
Watkins said that his clients, who are also lawyers, are supportive of the Black Lives Matter movement, and they have worked on civil rights cases in the past. He noted that their actions, which were caught on the video during Sunday’s protest, were “born of abject fear of imminent harm.” He continued to state that their actions were not race-related, and the protesters they were afraid of were actually white.
“They are appalled that they have been portrayed in a fashion which they believe is going to be used by some to support the position that its time to grab the Confederate flag and grab a gun and protect ourselves against the BLM movement. My clients know that they looked like lunatics,” said Watkins.
Mark McCloskey spoke with local news outlet KMOV-TV and said that he and his wife faced an angry crowd on their private street and they were scared.
“It was like the storming of the Bastille, the gate came down and a large crowd of angry, aggressive people poured through. I was terrified that we’d be murdered within seconds. Our house would be burned down, our pets would be killed.”
Rasheen Aldridge, who helped lead the protest, which was meant for Mayor Lyda Krewson, said that the protesters were peaceful and said there weren’t any threats made. He said, “Just like in many disobedient protests, even in the 60s, you break laws, make people feel uncomfortable. We’re not doing anything where we’re hurting anyone or putting anyone in danger”
As previously reported, the protesters were making their way to Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home as they shouted “Resign Lyda, take the cops with you,” after a Facebook live briefing in which Krewson read the names and addresses of the residents that wrote letters to her suggesting she defund the police department.
The video was later removed an issued an apology and said she would not be resigning.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
