Not first rodeo for gun-toting St. Louis couple

An instantly infamous gun-toting St. Louis couple, filmed menacing protestors passing by their mansion, are already well-known for bizarre and threatening shenanigans by locals. Jeremy Koher reports that they likewise threatened one of their neighbors with guns, are relentless litigators, and were accused of trying to use HOA rules to get a gay couple kicked out of the neighborhood. The man reportedly sued his own dying father.

In an ongoing suit against Portland Place trustees in 2017, the McCloskeys say they are entitled to a 1,143-square-foot triangle of lawn in front of property that is set aside as common ground in the neighborhood's indenture. It was that patch of green protesters saw when they filed through the gate. Mark McCloskey said in an affidavit that he has defended the patch before by pointing a gun at a neighbor who had tried to cut through it. ...

One of the rules prohibited unmarried people from living together. Several neighbors said 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.

Their own lawyer, Albert Watkins, became part of the story when reporters noticed his website bio boasted that a client's accuser committed suicide after Watkins was done with her.

Addendum: I never expected this tweet to take off so much, but the attention to the site appears to have led him to remove the last line of the fourth paragraph: The woman committed suicide thereafter." It's gone from the bio now. pic.twitter.com/D3s1h00gmY

- Tara Haelle (@tarahaelle) July 1, 2020