US
Police Reportedly Seize Rifle From St. Louis Couple Who Warded Off Protesters In Viral Video
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Police, with a search warrant in hand, reportedly seized a rifle Friday from the St. Louis couple that went viral for brandishing weapons at demonstrators to defend their mansion, the husband told a local news outlet.
St. Louis police executed a search warrant on the mega home of Mark and Patricia McCloskey and left the property with the AR-15 that Mark McCloskey aimed at unruly protesters, 5 On Your Side. The lawyer couple had their firearm seized, despite that no known charges have been filed.
“We complied with the search warrant. They took my AR” Mark McCloskey told Todd Starnes, a conservative radio host. “I’m absolutely surprised by this.”
Photos from Shannon Bream, a Fox News host, appear to show the search warrant and police in the act of confiscating the M16A2-patterned rifle.
Fox News’s Shannon Bream shows photos of search warrant/police seizing the rifle seen in a viral video late last month showing the St. Louis couple, the McCloskeys, waving firearms at protesters marching through their gated neighborhood — https://t.co/a4R0F4hKIR — @dcexaminer pic.twitter.com/L1V59N9HyW
— Daniel Chaitin (@danielchaitin7) July 11, 2020
The chrome pistol brandished by Patricia McCloskey in the viral video was not seized, as it’s reportedly in the hands of their criminal defense lawyer, 5 On Your Side reported.
The couple faced both widespread praise and widespread criticism after the video of them confronting protesters head-on outside their home went viral in June. The pair’s lawyer alleges the unruly group busted down a gate that led to the McCloskey’s private community, according to Fox News.
“My clients were not arming themselves against peaceful protesters, they were arming themselves about people with a really bad motive, a motive that runs afoul of the fundamental tenets of our country,” Al Watkins, the couple’s lawyer, told Fox.
In a video posted to social media, peaceful protesters in St. Louis calling for police reforms walked past a couple brandishing firearms as they were ordered to stay away from the couple’s home https://t.co/bYl06iAiTo pic.twitter.com/wOZ1Wr3yac
— Reuters (@Reuters) June 29, 2020
Patricia McCloskey said protesters threatened to kill her and then subsequently commandeer her home, according to a separate Fox report.
“[They said] that they were going to kill us,” Patricia McCloskey told Fox. “They were going to come in there. They were going to burn down the house.”
“They were going to be living in our house after I was dead, and they were pointing to different rooms and said, ‘That’s going to be my bedroom and that’s going to be the living room and I’m going to be taking a shower in that room,” she continued.
St. Louis Police did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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