A Memphis man, who is facing charges for protecting his car and truck against a Black Lives Matter mob spoke out for the first time exclusively to KWAM. Listen to the full interview by downloading the “Wake Up Memphis” podcast.
Paul Staples reportedly told investigators he pointed the gun at protesters outside his home on South Main because he “felt in fear.”“It escalated when Paul Staples went outside of his residence and confronted the group. Paul Staples pointed a handgun at the protesters in an effort to keep them away from his vehicle,” Staples told police in the affidavit.
“They started messing with the windshield wipers and bouncing up and down on the pickup truck,” Staples told KWAM.
He said he was standing about one step away from his door when he was approached aggressively by a group of Black Lives Matter activists.
“I let them get about 10 feet from me and then I drew out my weapon, and they all turned around and took off running,” he said.Staples is facing eight counts of aggravated assault and one count of tampering with or fabricating evidence. The last charge came as after he turned over the wrong weapon to law enforcement.
The mob of protesters had staged a protest after word came down that three of the four police officers involved in the Breonna Taylor case would not be indicted.Police initially declined to charge Staples, but local activists demanded that law enforcement punish the man — and eventually he was taken into custody.
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“We were standing in the street and I walked by where his truck was parked and he said ‘don’t come any closer’ and he pulled out the pistol and swept it across the group of people,” protester LJ Abraham told LocalMemphis.com.
It’s not the first time citizens have been arrested simply for protecting themselves from the BLM mobs.
In St. Louis, a husband and wife were charged for defending their property against a violent mob that tore down a gate and broke into their exclusive, private neighborhood. And a Milwaukee man was arrested for displaying a firearm inside his house — after a mob had gathered on his front lawn.
