The St. Louis lawyer who went viral after wielding a rifle to drive protesters away as they marched through his neighborhood, said he feared the crowd would kill him and his wife and burn down his mansion as the “Bastille storm. “
Mark McCloskey told KDSK, a local NBC affiliate, that the crowd of protesters had broken a door to his property as they marched to the mayor’s house in the west center of the city on Sunday night.
The crowd began threatening him and his wife, McCloskey said.
“We were threatened with our lives, threatened with burning a house, burning my office building, and even the life of our dog,” he said in the interview.
“It was, it was as bad as it can be. I mean, those who know, I really thought it was Storming the Bastille that we would be dead and burn down the house and that there was nothing we could do about it, “he added.
McCloskey grabbed a semi-automatic rifle and his wife, Patricia McCloskey, brandished a silver pistol, pointed at protesters, and yelled that their home and street were private property.
“All we said was that this is private property. Came back. Private property. Go now, ”McCloskey said in the interview.
He and his wife live on Portland Place, a private street in a historic section of the city that is lined with million-dollar houses and other mansions.
He told KDSK that the crowd of protesters broke a door that sealed off the street from the public, claiming that as soon as they passed the entrance they were trespassing on private property.
“Everything inside the Portland Place gate is private property. There is nothing public at Portland Place, ”McCloskey said in the interview.
“Being inside that door is like being in my living room.”
Protesters were on their way to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson to demand her resignation after she disclosed the names and addresses of residents who joined the protests against the police officers.
McCloskey’s “Midwest Palace” house appeared in St. Louis magazine in August 2018 after they completed a major renovation.
In the piece, they showed the golden ceiling of the dome and the double curved marble staircase that led to the second and third floor landings.
Additional reporting by Elizabeth Rosner
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