Video From St. Louis Shows Man And Woman Pointing Guns At Protesters Calling For Mayor Lyda Krewson To Resign
Video taken in St. Louis, Missouri, shows a man and woman standing in front of what appeared to be a mansion pointing a rifle at protesters who were marching to call for the resignation of Mayor Lyda Krewson.
The video, shared on Twitter by videographer Daniel Shular, showed a man and woman standing in front of a residence as a large group of protesters moved along the road in front of the home. The man, wearing tan pants and a pink polo shirt, held what appeared to be a semi-automatic rifle and at times pointed it toward protesters, yelling something at them as they moved past. The woman standing with him held a handgun as well.
The video lasted a little more than 30 seconds and did not show exactly how the incident began, but from other reports, it did not appear that the protests were violent. The clip gained viral interest on Sunday, racking up more than half a million views in just an hour since it was posted.
A couple has come out of their house and is pointing guns at protesters in their neighborhood #StLouis #lydakrewson pic.twitter.com/ZJ8a553PAU
— Daniel Shular (@xshularx) June 29, 2020
Other pictures from the confrontation were captured by Laurie Skrivan, a photographer with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. The images showed the woman raising her gun toward protesters as she appeared to yell something at them. The couple remained on their lawn, and it did not appear they came close to any of the demonstrators.
The protest on Sunday was directed at the home of Krewson, which is in one of the wealthier neighborhoods in St. Louis.
An armed couple came out of their house and pointed guns toward BLM protesters in the Central West End #KrewsonResign #CloseTheWorkhouse #DefundPolice pic.twitter.com/owD4WDGVCL
— Laurie Skrivan (@LaurieSkrivan) June 29, 2020
As KMOV reported, there have been growing calls on Krewson to resign after she read during a Facebook live video the names and parts of the addresses of demonstrators calling for police reform. As the report noted, Krewson was delivering a regular COVID-19 briefing last week when she turned to the topic of protests calling for police reform, grabbing the comments that had been submitted by residents and reading names of those calling for police to be defunded.
Though the comments were public and could have been obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, Krewson came under fire for what critics saw as improperly sharing information.
She later apologized.
“Tonight, I would like to apologize for identifying individuals who presented letters to me at City Hall as I was answering a routine question during one of my updates earlier today. While this is public information, I did not intend to cause distress or harm to anyone,” Krewson said in a statement. “The post has been removed and again, I sincerely apologize.”
