“The group began yelling obscenities and threats of harm to both victims,” St. Louis police told the St. Louis Post Dispatch. “When the victims observed multiple subjects who were armed, they then armed themselves and contacted police.”
The McCloskeys, both personal-injury attorneys, live in a mansion that has been valued at more than $1 million. Albert Watkins, the couple's counsel, told the paper that McCloskeys felt threatened by a pair of "bad actors" who started to insult them, adding that they "acted lawfully" by brandishing weapons on the protesters.
Video of the incident has been viewed millions of times on social media.
A couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as a group marched toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation. https://t.co/5EqDd43QCd pic.twitter.com/KWNaif77ch
— ABC News (@ABC) June 29, 2020
Anders Walker, a constitutional law professor at St. Louis University, told the Post-Dispatch that Missouri's Castle Doctrine makes what the McCloskeys did legal, albeit dangerous.
Missouri's Castle Doctrine allows residents to use lethal force to get people off of private property.
"There's no right to protest on those streets," Walker explained. "The protesters thought they had a right to protest, but as a technical matter, they were not allowed to be there."
He added: "It’s essentially a private estate. If anyone was violating the law, it was the protesters. In fact, if [the McCloskeys] have photos of the protesters, they could go after them for trespassing."