Missouri Governor Mike Parson says he has spoken to President Donald Trump and that the pair are prepared to step in to help the McCloskeys, the St. Louis homeowners who had their guns confiscated – and may soon face arrest – for protecting private property from Black Lives Matter protesters.
The McCloskeys were caught on video brandishing a pair of firearms – a handgun and what looked to be an AR-15 – at Black Lives Matter protesters who had allegedly broken down a gate to enter their private community. Although the pair were not the target of the protest – the demonstration was headed to the nearby home of the mayor of St. Louis – they quickly became the subject of online ridicule and, subsequently, a criminal investigation.
“[Protesters said] that they were going to kill us,” Patricia McCloskey, the wife, told Sean Hannity of Fox News, adding that she feared for her life and had already secured her valuables before stepping out onto her lawn to protect her home. “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.’”
Although, initially, law enforcement officials indicated that they were investigating the protesters for wrongdoing, the St. Louis Circuit Attorney quickly added that the city was investigating the McCloskeys for unlawful behavior. Last Friday, law enforcement officers confiscated the AR-15 shown in the video and the McCloskeys’ attorney turned the handgun over to authorities sometime last weekend.
Earlier this week, the pair told Fox News that they expect to be indicted and arrested on charges that they threatened protesters without cause.
Parson told a press conference Wednesday that he’d spoken to President Trump about the McCloskeys’ plight and that the president “understands the situation in Missouri.”
“He understands the situation in St. Louis and how out of control it is for a prosecutor to let violent criminals off and not do their job and try to attack law-abiding citizens,” Parson said of the president.
“The conversation I had with the President, said that he would do everything he could within his powers to help with this situation,” he continued.
Parson has been vocal about the McCloskeys’ case, tweeting last week that “Missourians have the right to protect their homes,” and that he found it “appalling” that prosecutors were “targeting the McCloskeys for defending their home.”
President Donald Trump tweeted a photo of the St. Louis homeowners to express his support for the pair.
The couple’s attorney told Fox News that, although the pair still expects to be indicted and arrested, the governor’s and president’s involvement comes as welcome news.
“The President has been restrained to date and has been kept up to date in virtually real-time. His support behind the scenes was vital to permitting local police to step back from prior directives to be ‘hands-off’ protesters,” he said. “The support of the Executive Office appears to have motivated The Governor to garner a heightened degree of appreciation for implications and rights at risk in this situation.”