Tweets from the mainstream media about the St. Louis couple who warded off a group of protesters with firearms after they entered their private property leave out a critical aspect to the incident: The protesters had entered private property and were not on city sidewalks.
Videos from the encounter that went viral on Sunday evening show a man armed with an AR-15 and a woman armed with a handgun telling the protesters to exit their property after they broke in through a gate leading to the private street. Signs are also posted telling people to not trespass.
A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson pic.twitter.com/ZJ8a553PAU
— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) June 29, 2020
here’s what happens when you march on Portland Place in St. Louis, MO
— avery (@averyrisch) June 29, 2020
they’re scared of their own community pic.twitter.com/Ng8qW1Pa6C
By Monday morning, mainstream media tweets about the incident left out how the crowd was not in a public street.
WATCH: This white couple pointed guns at protesters passing by their mansion in St. Louis. The group was marching toward the home of the city's mayor to demand her resignation https://t.co/bW8zkcKcEv pic.twitter.com/wJeC5R5mx8
— CBS News (@CBSNews) June 29, 2020
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
St. Louis couple points guns at peaceful crowd of protesters calling for mayor to resign https://t.co/o2SS6Ml3HJ
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 29, 2020
Only ABC News reported how police were viewing the cases as trespassing, with CBS News and the Washington Post leaving out the key distinction.
“This is all private property. There are no public sidewalks or public streets. We were told that we would be killed, our home burned and our dog killed. We were all alone facing an angry mob,” Mark McCloskey, the man in the video, told KMOV-TV.
Missouri state law does recognize the "castle doctrine," which "allows residents to use deadly force against intruders based on the notion that your home is 'your castle.' This legal doctrine assumes that if an invader disrupts the sanctity of your home, they intend to do you harm and therefore you should be able to protect yourself or others against an attack."