KENOSHA, Wis. — The gun-toting St. Louis couple who pointed their weapons at Black Lives Matter protesters outside their home last year have traveled here to support Kyle Rittenhouse — as well as their Second Amendment rights.
“We’re just here to support Kyle and hope that the jury comes out with an acquittal on all counts and you know to support people’s rights to defend themselves,” Mark McCloskey, 64, told The Post outside the courthouse Tuesday, as the jury began deliberations in the teen’s murder trial.
“We’re just here to support people that exercise their Second Amendment rights and defend themselves, particularly when the government abdicates that duty and fails to protect its citizens,” added the personal injury lawyer, who was with his wife, Patricia.
“I mean, we’ve got programs to defund the police all over the place but if you defund the police and the government is not there to protect the citizens, citizens have to protect themselves.”
Rittenhouse, 18, is charged with killing Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and wounding Gaige Grosskreutz, 28, as anti-police brutality protests broke out in Kenosha on Aug. 25, 2020, following the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
Prosecutors have argued that Rittenhouse was a “wannabe soldier” who instigated the violence by toting an AR-style rifle.
But Rittenhouse’s lawyers have insisted that the teen acted in self-defense, arguing that he feared for his life after being ambushed.
The McCloskeys made headlines in June 2020 when hundreds of demonstrators marched past the couple’s mansion on a private road, after entering through a gate.
The pair said they felt threatened and armed themselves, standing on their front lawn while the protesters passed.
Both Mark and Patricia McCloskey pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge before Missouri Gov. Mike Parson pardoned them earlier this year.
