Missouri couple draw guns at crowd heading to St. Louis mayor’s home

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - A white couple pointed guns at protesters in St. Louis as a group marched toward the mayor’s home to demand her resignation.

A social media video showed the armed couple standing outside of their large home Sunday evening in the upscale Central West End neighborhood of the Missouri city.

In the video, shouted at protesters, while people in the march moved the crowd forward, urging participants to ignore them.

KSDK reports the couple has been identified as Mark and Patricia McCloskey.

John Amman, Saint Louis University attorney, told the news outlet their actions could be considered as an assault. He said while people have a right to threaten force if they feel threatened, the group of protesters appeared to walk by the home and weren't threatening the homeowners.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether St. Louis police were aware of the incident. An email and phone call from The Associated Press to police weren’t immediately answered.

The group of at least 500 people were heading toward Mayor Lyda Krewson’s home, chanting, “Resign Lyda, take the cops with you,” news outlets reported.

Resignation demands come after a Friday Facebook live briefing, where Krewson read the names and addresses of several residents who wrote letters to the mayor suggesting she defund the police department.

The video was removed from Facebook and Krewson apologized Friday, stating she didn’t “intend to cause distress.”

The names and letters are considered public records but Krewson’s actions received heavy backlash.

An online petition calling for her resignation had about more than 43,000 signatures as of early Monday.

“As a leader, you don’t do stuff like that ... it’s only right that we visit her at her home,” said State Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis, speaking into a megaphone at the protest Sunday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report