St. Louis Couple Who Waved Guns at Protesters Reportedly Being Charged With Felony

The St. Louis couple who went viral for waving their guns at protesters on their property in June are now facing criminal charges.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has charged Mark and Patricia McCloskey with unlawful use of a weapon charge, a felony that could result in prison time and thousands in fines. The charges come after police ordered a search warrant of their million dollar St. Louis home, first reported by 5 On Your Side.

In a video that’s appeared all over social media and cable news, the McCloskey’s stood at the front of their property barefoot yelling at nearby protesters. They instantly became a meme.

A deep-dive into the couple from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch weeks later detailed their history of lawsuits in an effort to maintain exclusivity in their neighborhood. But even as they were ripped online, the two became faces of an anti-protest movement despite saying “Black Lives Matter” in a press release through an attorney.

“The Black Lives Matters movement is here to stay, it is the right message, and it is about time,” they said in a statement in June.

Since then the McCloskey’s have done press on the incident appearing on President Donald Trump’s virtual campaign event a day before charges were filed against them.

To continue in a case against them, local prosecutors must prove their guns were capable of lethal force rather than used as a prop. Their weapons were seized, per 5 On Your Side, but ammunition was not found in them.