Patricia McCloskey, Mark McCloskey

Personal-injury lawyers Mark T. McCloskey, 63, and Patricia Novak McCloskey, 61, have nothing against the Black Lives Matter movement, according to their lawyer Albert Watkins. The couple is dubbed Ken and Karen, a modern version of Bonnie and Clyde or an entitled white couple.

“My clients, as melanin-deficient human beings, are completely respectful of the message Black Lives Matter needs to get out, especially to whites,” Watkins told St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The lawyer added that Mark and Patricia “acted lawfully” out of “fear and apprehension, the genesis of which was not race-related.”

Mark and Patricia recently made headlines after standing outside their house while pointing guns at protesters. The authorities are still investigating the incident and the white couple has yet to be charged.

Dubbed the Niemann Mansion, Mark and Patricia’s house is located along Portland Place, a private street in the Central West End of Saint Louis, Missouri, United States. It is a Renaissance-style palazzo currently appraised at $1.15 million.

On June 28, 2020, around 300 protesters marched through the Central West End toward St. Louis mayor Lyda Krewson‘s house to demand her resignation because she released the names and addresses of residents who had suggested defunding the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. They were confronted at around 7:30 p.m. that night by Mark and Patricia, who were holding a rifle and a handgun, respectively.

“It was like the storming of the Bastille,” Mark told KMOV. “The gate came down and a large crowd of angry, aggressive people poured through. I was terrified that we’d be murdered within seconds, our house would be burned down (and) our pets would be killed.”

Mark told the publication that he and Patricia called 911 and grabbed their guns when they heard the protesters approaching their private community. However, police denied having received 911 calls from Portland Place during the time of the incident.

Both Mark and Patricia attended Southern Methodist University (SMU) Dedman School of Law in Dallas, Texas, USA. He graduated there magna cum laude.

Before attending SMU, Patricia graduated summa cum laude from Pennsylvania State University. She and Mark got married in 1990 and renewed their wedding vows on April 24, 2011.