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LA District Attorney's husband threatened to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters who showed up at his home

Well, this isn’t exactly the impression you want to leave with voters the day before they go to the polls to potentially reelect you. The husband of LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey pulled a gun on Black Lives Matter activists who showed up on his porch at 5:40 am and threatened to shoot them.

Abdullah and about 30 additional activists gathered near Lacey’s house around 5:40 a.m. on Monday, the day before the LA district attorney primary. Black Lives Matter activists have been requesting a meeting with Lacey for more than two years to discuss her office’s failure to prosecute police officers who kill civilians. More than 500 people have died at the hands of law enforcement during Lacey’s time as district attorney, but her office has prosecuted only one case.

On Monday morning, the activists set up chairs on the sidewalk outside Lacey’s home. Abdullah and two other people went to the front door and rang the doorbell to request that the district attorney meet with them outside her house, ahead of Tuesday’s election. Abdullah, who has met Lacey before, noticed that the house was equipped with a Ring camera, allowing people inside the house to see who was at the door. Abdullah thought she heard a gun being cocked inside the home, but hoped she was being paranoid, she told HuffPost. Then David Lacey, the district attorney’s husband, opened the door, pointed a gun at Abdullah’s chest and told her to leave.

Here’s video of the incident posted by the organizer of the protest:

Abdullah told the Guardian that DA Lacey owed it to her group to hear them out:

“She’s an elected official. She owes it to her constituency to hear us,” said Abdullah, who has closely tracked killings by police and advocated for victims’ loved ones, and is also a professor of Pan-African studies at Cal State LA. “She’s not willing to come to South LA or meet with families of those killed by police.”…

Abdullah said it was concerning that Lacey’s husband would resort to a violent threat, noting that the home had security cameras and the couple could see they were peaceful: “This is what comes out of her own home.” She said she thought of her three children as he pointed the firearm at her: “Is this really the way I’m going to go out?”

BLM protesters and Bernie Sanders supporters are hoping to provoke a response when they show up for a protest at someone’s home either late at night with a bullhorn or early in the morning banging a drum. The goal is to create a spectacle which will get them on the news. In this case, Lacey’s husband handed them a spectacle and then some. Notice he has his finger on the trigger in the clip. It’s possible he could be charged with assault for what he did. Not a smart move especially not on the day before the primary.

In January, members of the same group were ejected from a candidate debate after interrupting DA Lacey:

As she sought to speak about her office’s record on the death penalty, a woman in the audience shouted, “Jackie Lacey must go.”

Some people, including those from the LA Black Lives Matter chapter, were ejected from the Aratani Theatre in downtown LA as they led chants during Lacey’s answers on the incarceration of people of color and how the office has dealt with racial disparity.

Here are a couple of videos of that scene:

Since then Lacey has skipped public debates which is what prompted protesters to show up at her house this morning.

In a press conference around noon, DA Lacey said her husband was “profoundly sorry” after realizing what he’d done. Lacey also spent several minutes describing threats and confrontations which she’s experienced form activists. She also mentioned some recent protests outside public officials’ homes which I wrote about here. “I just want to live in peace and do my job,” Lacey said.

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