Couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters ‘accused of being anti-gay & repeatedly sued neighbors’
THE ST Louis couple who pointed guns at Black Lives Matter protesters have been "accused of being anti-gay and repeatedly sued their neighbors."
Mark, 63, and Patricia McCloskey, 61, last month turned firearms on protesters massed outside their home in a gated community after fearing for their safety.
Mark McCloskey sued a former employer for wrongful termination and his sister, father and his father’s caretaker for defamation.
The couple have been in a long-running legal battle with the trustees of their private Portland Street community over a small patch of land, the reported.
The argument reportedly concerns a small triangle of land near the couple's house that they claim they have owned since 1988, but the trustees said it belongs to the neighborhood.
The outlet reported that an affidavit filed in the case included words by Mark, which said that he and his wife "regularly prohibited all persons, including Portland Place residents, from crossing the Parcel including at least at one point, challenging a resident at gunpoint who refused to heed the McCloskeys' warnings to stay off such property."
The incident took place in either 1988 or 1989, the Post reported that the couple's attorney, Albert Watkins, said.
On the day of the occurrence, Patricia McCloskey reportedly heard a noise at night and saw someone cutting through the piece of land.
Watkins told the outlet: "She looked down, had a gun and screamed for the person to stay off her property."
The Post reported that the attorney said "the person" in question was a neighbor, who is now the couple's friend.
Mark also sued a former employer for wrongful termination and went after his sister, father and his father's caretaker for defamation, reported.
The outlet reported that the couple also sued a man who sold them a Maserati they claimed was supposed to come with a box of hard-to-find parts.
In November 1996, Mark filed a lawsuit against a dog breeder who he said sold him a German shepherd without papers.
At the same time he also filed another against the Central West End Association for using a photo of their house in a brochure for a house tour after the McCloskeys told them not to.
However, the most shocking lawsuit the couple tried was to get the local trustees to enforce the neighborhood rules as written.
One of the rules prohibited unmarried people from living together and several neighbors told the local paper it was because the McCloskeys didn’t want gay couples living on the block.
The trustees voted to impeach Patricia McCloskey as a trustee in 1992 when she fought an effort to change the trust indenture, accusing her of being anti-gay, the outlet said.
The McCloskeys dismissed the claim, but the judge would not let them refile an amended version because it "failed to allege a justiciable controversy," the outlet reported.
The McCloskeys took the case to the Supreme Court to try to make the judge allow them to refile their case, but the effort failed.
Over the weekend, cops reportedly seized the assault rifle belonging to the husband-and-wife lawyers who were filmed brandishing guns at Black Lives Matter protesters.
Police reportedly searched their home and confiscated the AR-15 rifle that was seen in the footage which was filmed on June 28.
Mr McCloskey told : "We complied with the search warrant.
"They took my AR.. I'm absolutely surprised by this."
The handgun held by his wife was not seized and is with their attorney.
The couple have not been charged with any offense.
They made headlines on June 28 when a video went viral showing them waving firearms at protesters who had massed outside their home as they marched toward the mayor's home to demand her resignation.
He could be heard yelling while holding a long-barreled gun. His wife stood next to him with a handgun.
McCloskey has defended his and his wife’s actions saying that the confrontation with protesters "had nothing to do with race".