This was the wrong spot to rob.
During a Republican campaign event in New York City last week, a man armed with a knife managed to snatch a metal box with cash and checks at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Republican Club, but was detained by members of the club who followed him out into the street, according to a Fox News report.
The event was a fundraiser for Mark McCloskey a contender for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Missouri, according to a report published Tuesday by the U.K. Daily Mail.
McCloskey became a national figure after video went viral showing him and his wife standing in front of their St. Louis home with firearms during the unrest of June 2020 while rowdy marchers passed by. (The McCloskeys initially faced felony gun charges over the incident, but ended up pleading guilty to lesser offenses.)
Thursday’s robbery took place when a man dressed as a maintenance staff member grabbed a money box in the building’s lobby and took off with the contents.
On Wednesday, Newsmax’s “National Report” posted an interview to Facebook about the incident with Metropolitan Club President Ian Walsh Reilly:
Reilly also described the robbery to “Fox & Friends First” on Wednesday, recounting how several club members stopped the man and held him until the police arrived.
“This gentleman who was posing as a maintenance staff member… was basically casing the joint,” Reilly said. “He literally ripped open a lockbox, stole the money from it and ran out the door.”
While the man did make it out of the lobby, Reilly and two other members chased him up Lexington Avenue and caught him.
“It was a little sketchy,” Reilly said. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with… He was telling different people different stories.”
“The NYPD had said he is someone who’s committed many crimes in the city,” he added.
Police arrived as the club members were holding the suspect, according to a report published by the Daily Mail.
After a struggle in which the suspect pulled out a knife, they arrested 61-year-old Gerard Jackson from the Bronx, according to the Daily Mail report. They charged him with robbery, two counts of assault and criminal possession of a weapon.
According to the Daily Mail report, club members reported $425 was stolen, but Walsh told Fox News First the club members got the money back.
“We got it back and the police returned it to us,” he said.
McCloskey told Fox News the Thursday incident will not deter his campaign.
“If the goal of the left is to intimidate people into staying at home and not going out or living their day-to-day lives, that’s all the more reason for us to do it,” he said. “Because we cannot be intimidated. We have to constantly stand up for our rights.”
McCloskey became famous after videos on social media showed him and his wife, Patricia, holding guns outside their home as Black Lives Matter marchers trespassed on private property during protests over the death of George Floyd while in Minneapolis police custody in May 2020.
After this incident, McCloskey decided to run for the Senate seat that is currently held by Roy Blunt, a Republican who is retiring from the Senate after this year.
With Thursday’s Republican club robbery, McCloskey is once again making headlines.
Reilly noted that New York City is experiencing a crime surge and he blamed it on the city’s Democratic leadership.
He called the atmosphere “lawless” as crimes, like this one, continue in the city.
“Unfortunately, with Mayor Adams becoming mayor, a lot of his campaign promises have not actually been realized,” Reilly said.
“The police are still not being helped. The city is so lawless, unfortunately, and this is the environment that we’re existing in,” he added.
But as for Jackson, Reilly noted that he didn’t get away with his crime, the Daily Mail reported.
“He walked into the wrong club that night,” Reilly said.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
