Last month, the husband of Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey came under scrutiny after footage showed him pointing a gun at protesters outside the couple’s home a day before her primary election.
Since the March 2 incident, David Lacey has been under investigation, and now the California Attorney General’s Office is reviewing the case, working to determine if he committed a crime and should face prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reports.
On the day of the confrontation, about 30 protesters showed up to the district attorney’s home in Granada Hills just before dawn. The protesters were calling Lacey out for her failed promise to meet with Black community members and activists to discuss several issues, the Times notes.
David Lacey is seen pointing the weapon in the video recorded by Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and demanding that the protesters get off his porch.
“You’re going to shoot me?” BLM organizer and Cal State L.A. professor Melina Abdullah could be heard asking David Lacey, the Times reports.
“I will shoot you. Get off of my porch,” David Lacey repeats.
Then protesters asked David Lacey to tell Jackie Lacey that they were there.
“I don’t care who you are. Get off of my porch. Right now. We’re calling the police right now,” he added before retreating inside and closing the door.
The attorney general is reviewing the case in order to avoid any conflict of interest that may arise from the district attorney’s office having to potentially handle any prosecution.
Currently, David Lacey has not been arrested.
The district attorney has apologized for her husband’s actions, saying that he had responded in fear, noting that she had received death threats throughout her campaign.
“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,” she said shortly after the incident.
Meanwhile, an attorney representing Abdullah and two other protesters slammed David Lacey’s actions as “negligent use of force.”