Husband of district attorney points gun at Black Lives Matter activists

Jackie Lacey defends his actions: 'Our home is our sanctuary. He meant no one any harm'

Jackie Lacey has been criticised over police shootings and her support for the death penalty (AP)

The husband of Los Angeles District Attorney Jackie Lacey has been caught on video pointing a gun at Black Lives Matter activists shouting at them to "get off of my porch".

The activists were attempting to meet with Ms Lacey to discuss the more than 500 police killings that have happened during her tenure in the build up to Tuesday's District Attorney primary, where she is hoping to be re-elected.

The police were called to her home on Monday morning, with officers arriving at the residence in the 17900 block of Mayerling Street at about 5.40am according to LAPD Officer Lizeth Lomeli.

In the video, a woman off-camera can be heard saying: "Good morning. Are you going to shoot me?"

A man, later confirmed to be David Lacey, stands in the doorway pointing a handgun in front of him and responds: "I will shoot you. Get off of my porch."

The woman replies: "Can you tell Jackie Lacey that we're here?"

The man says: "I don't care who you are, get off of my porch right now. We're calling the police right now."

No arrests have been made.

Later the District Attorney defended her husband's actions. She said: "We expect that people will exercise their First Amendment right, but our home is our sanctuary. This is not the first time this has happened. Maybe I was lulled into a sense of security.

"He meant no one any harm. I just want to live in peace and do my job."

Ms Lacey has worked for the LA District Attorney's office since 1986 and became the first African American and the first woman to be elected as DA for the county when she first ran in 2012.

The 63-year-old's record has been criticised and last year a representative for her office, Shiara Davila-Morales, confirmed to LAist that she still favours the death penalty for "the worst of the worst offenders, including child murderers and serial killers".

This confirmation came after an open letter signed by 75 legal experts urged her to reconsider her stance on the death penalty as only people of colour had been sentenced to death in the county in the previous seven years.​

One of her opponents, 65-year-old George Gascón, is a former police officer and is running a "reformer" campaign, saying he does not support the use of the death penalty and thinks the office has lost its way under the current District Attorney.

The current DA's other opponent is 36-year-old Rachel Rossi who also identifies as a reformer and resigned as the majority counsel to the House of Representatives' subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security in September in order to run.

Writer Jasmyne Cannick, who had been posting about Ms Lacey on Twitter the night before, stated that Black Lives Matter Los Angeles had protested outside her office for years.

"@BLMLA has been holding weekly protests in front of her office for years now. Years. What elected official can get away with refusing to meet with their constituency for an entire term in office and expect to be re-elected?" tweeted Ms Cannick.

​​Additional reporting by the Associated Press