At least one protester at McCloskey altercation was armed with firearm, sources say

Mark and Patricia McCloskey made national headlines at the end of June when they confronted a mob of protesters outside of their home on Portland Place, a wealthy private street west of downtown St. Louis. 

Photos and videos of the couple holding firearms and in some cases brandishing those firearms at the crowd went globally viral. St. Louis prosecutor Kim Gardner charged the pair on July 20 with "flourishing" their guns in an unlawful manner. 

Yet sources in the St. Louis Police Department have told Just the News that video evidence from the altercation indicates that at least one member of the crowd of protesters was armed with a gun during the confrontation. 

That allegation, if true, could be a key assertion in the McCloskeys' defense. The pair's lawyer has cited the state's "castle doctrine" law, which stipulates that an individual may use deadly force without the need to retreat if he or she "reasonably believes that such deadly force is necessary" to protect his or her own life.