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Summary: The husband of Los Angeles County’s District Attorney pointed a gun at unarmed protesters during a confrontation outside the couple’s home.
The husband of Los Angeles’s top prosecutor, Jackie Lacey, pointed a gun at Black Lives Matter protesters who showed up outside the couple’s home early Monday morning, BuzfeedNews reported.
A video shows David Lacey, the husband of LA county district attorney pointing a handgun directly at the protesters, saying “Get off of my porch. I will shoot you… I don’t care who you are… We’re calling the police right now.”
Melina Abdullah, a Black Lives Matter organizer and professor at California State University, Los Angeles who had knocked at the door, said: “He pulled a gun and pointed it at my chest.” He appeared to have his finger on the trigger.
“We were shocked,” Abdullah told the Guardian after the confrontation, which happened just after 5.30 am local time. “We were extremely polite. We are clearly peaceful folks. She knows who we are. We’ve never engaged in any violence against her.”
The incident happened one day before voters decide whether to reelect Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey.
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Lacey has been largely criticized by BLM Los Angeles for her refusal to prosecute police use-of-force cases and her aggressive pursuit of the death penalty.
The LA County D.A has faced scrutiny for not prosecuting the officers involved in the shooting Ezell Ford, an unarmed, mentally ill black man who was killed by police in 2014. As well as for declining to bring charges against an LAPD officer who shot and killed Brendon Glenn, an unarmed black homeless man in 2015.
In a news conference hours after the incident, Lacey apologized and criticized protesters for what she said was repeated harassment and threats throughout her two terms in office.
“I don’t think you ever get used to anybody coming to your house,” Lacey said. “It was frightening.”
“I, too, am sorry if anybody was harmed. It’s never my intent to harm any protester,” she said. “I just want to live in peace and do my job.”
“His response was in fear, and now that he realizes what happened he wanted me to say to the protesters, the person that he showed the gun to, that he was sorry, that he’s profoundly sorry, that he meant no one any harm,” Lacey apologized on behalf of her husband.
The couple was asleep when the BLM protesters arrived at their home Monday morning. Lacey said she heard noises outside her house and immediately called police to tell them that she thought protesters were outside while her husband went downstairs.
“We expect that people will exercise their First Amendment right, but our home is our sanctuary,” Lacey told reporters at the press conference. “I do not believe it is fair or right for protesters to show up at the homes of people who dedicate their lives to public service.”
At a press conference shortly after Lacey’s, Los Angeles BLM activists said that David Lacey’s actions were uncalled for.
“We are here today because this morning, in an effort to exercise our First Amendment right, we were threatened,” Greg Akili, an organizer with BLM Los Angeles said. “What we express in our position and opposition to Jackie Lacey should not be met with threats to our lives.”
“When I saw the gun on me, my heart sank,” said Justin Andrew Marks, one of the organizers who was there.
Abdullah who posted the disturbing footage on Twitter said the organizers were attempting to take Lacey up on unfulfilled promises to meet with Black Lives Matter.
According to Abdullah, the protesters rang the doorbell after setting up chairs on the sidewalk.
“We heard someone come to the door, we heard what sounded like a gun being cocked… Never in our wildest dreams did we think he would pan the three of us who were standing on his porch and say, ‘I will shoot you,” he remarked.
Abdulah said the activists were upset but still focused on speaking out:
“We’re having to kind of shove down the trauma because we have work to do today and tomorrow.”
