In the early morning hours (5:40 a.m., to be exact) of Monday, March 2, the day before the California primary, a group of 30 to 40 Black Lives Matter protesters showed up at the home of Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey demanding to have a “community meeting” with her about how her office had handled certain cases.

The group, which had endorsed Lacey’s opponent, George Gascon, has led weekly protests against Lacey for more than a year — but those were held downtown, during the day, near Lacey’s office. This time they were outside her suburban home chanting, “Jackie Lacey must go! Jackie Lacey will go!” as my colleague Alex Parker reported at the time. BLM Los Angeles founder Melina Abdullah tweeted that the group was “In front of DA Jackie Lacey’s house for that community meeting she promised with the BLMLA crew. Rang her bell to invite her.”

I’m front of DA Jackie Lacey’s house for that community meeting she promised with the @BLMLA crew. Rang her bell to invite her.

Her husband pulled a gun, cocked it, pointed it at my chest and said “I’ll shoot you. I don’t care who you are.” @WP4BL @RealJusticePAC @shaunking pic.twitter.com/WtazUWSJIC

— Melina Abdullah (@DocMellyMel) March 2, 2020

Lacey’s husband met them at the door, his handgun leading the way, and who can blame him? Jackie Lacey had received death threats throughout the campaign and during her time in office, and she’s expected to just open the door to a mob of angry opponents at 5:40 a.m.?

Yeah, right.

Abdullah had no positive intention with this stunt; that much is apparent from the first sentence in her tweet. Abdullah asked him to tell Jackie Lacey they were there for a community meeting, and David Lacey basically told them, “get off my lawn,” and when asked if he was going to shoot her, he told Abdullah, “I will shoot you.” He didn’t lead off with that statement. He led off with, “Get off my porch,” while wielding a gun. He was clearly telling them to leave his property, his private property, which they have no right to be on — and if they don’t leave after being asked to leave, they’re trespassing.

Eventually, David Lacey was charged with three counts of misdemeanor assault by the state Attorney General’s office for pointing the gun at the trespassers. He is due back in court in December on those charges, after a motion to dismiss failed.

Tuesday, just two weeks before Election Day, Abdullah and demonstrators Dahlia Ferlito and Justin Marks filed a 16-page lawsuit against the Laceys, accusing them of assault, negligence and infliction of emotional distress.

“This lawsuit concerns the outrageously brazen and recklessly negligent use of a registered firearm by Defendant David Lacey, the husband of the Los Angeles District Attorney, against innocent protesters who were lawfully visiting their home and simply wanted the political candidate to follow through on promises she had made, yet neglected,” the suit reads.

The lawsuit argues that the Laceys were familiar with Abdullah and Black Lives Matter protesters and should have known they were unarmed and posed no danger.

Maybe that spin works with the “protesters” Abdullah has been so successful in riling up, but it doesn’t hold water. “Simply wanted the political candidate to follow through,” eh? She’s also the District Attorney and has put numerous really bad characters behind bars for a long time. Lawfully visiting her home? Perhaps at the moment they walked up they were lawfully visiting the home but the moment David Lacey told them to go away, they needed to go away. No one’s entitled to be on private property without permission. It doesn’t matter if they’re a government official or not.

What emotional distress did they suffer? Proving that will be extremely difficult.

Nope, this is a political stunt, essentially coordinated by Lacey’s opponent, George Gascon, just like the visit to Lacey’s house the day before the primary was a political stunt. With any luck this lawsuit will be dismissed quickly — or, the Laceys will countersue and take the Plaintiffs for everything they have.