Mark McCloskey, the armed homeowner who went viral on Sunday night after he and his wife defended their property from rioters, said during an interview on Monday that the rioters threatened him and his family and that his rifle was the only thing that saved him.

McCloskey, who is a lawyer, noted in an interview with a local news station that the rioters broke down a gate to the community and illegally trespassed on their private property.

“I went inside I got a rifle … because as soon as I said ‘this is private property,’ those words can enraged the crowd,” McCloskey said. “Horde, an absolute horde came through the smashed-down gates, coming right at the house. … And then I stood out there, the only thing we said is, ‘This is private property, go back, private property, leave now.’ At that point everybody got enraged, there were people wearing body armor.”

“One person pulled out a loaded pistol magazine and he clicked them together and he said, ‘You’re next,’” McCloskey said. “We were threatened with our lives, threatened with the house being burned down, my office building being burned down, even our dog’s life being threatened. It was about as bad as you can get. You know, I really thought it was the storming of Bastille, that we would be dead and the house would be burned and there was nothing we could do about it. It was a huge and frightening crowd and they broke in the gate and they were coming at us.

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