Grand jury indicts McCloskeys with gun exhibiting charges, adds charge of tampering with evidence

A grand jury indicted a St. Louis couple on charges of exhibiting guns, and added one charge each of tampering with evidence.

The indictment was announced Tuesday.

The McCloskeys became material for memes nationally when they waved their guns in June at Black Lives Matter protesters who had trespassed into a private neighborhood on their way to protest at the mayor's home. The McCloskeys said that they feared for their lives and they reacted by protecting their property with their weapons.

The charges of tampering with evidence relate to a gun that their lawyer turned over to investigators. It was inoperable at the time they handed it over, but prosecutors had it re-assembled to be operable.

The McCloskey's attorney, Joel Schwartz, said that the indictment was not a surprise and that he was confident they would be exonerated of the charges.

"Once all the facts are out, it will be clear the McCloskeys committed no crime whatsoever," Schwartz said.

"Frankly because the grand jury is not an adversarial process and defense counsel are not allowed in there and I have no idea what was stated to the grand jury and what law was given to the grand jury," he added.

Nine protesters were charged with trespassing over the incident, but local officials refused to prosecute them.

'Exercising our Second Amendment rights'

Mark McCloskey expressed frustration and anger over what he saw as selective enforcement of the law.

"Every single human being who as in front of my house was a criminal trespasser. They broke down our gate, they trespassed on our property. Not a single one of those people are now charged with anything," he said. "We're charged with felonies that could cost us four years of our lives and our law licenses."

He went on to warn voters against supporting Joe Biden and Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) in the presidential election.

"What you are witnessing here is just an opportunity for the government, the leftist, democrat government of the City of St. Louis to persecute us for doing no more than exercising our Second Amendment rights," McCloskey concluded.

Here's a local news video about the McCloskeys' reaction:

Raw interview: McCloskeys go off about gun charges after pointing weapons at protesterswww.youtube.com