Photograph Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Day by day Beast/Getty
A 42-year-old hemp jewellery maker, who reportedly shared COVID conspiracy theories on-line and lived with a nude activist, was arrested Friday morning for allegedly breaking into Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s residence in San Francisco and bludgeoning her husband with a hammer.
Paul Pelosi was hospitalized after being “violently assaulted,” Drew Hamill, the Speaker’s spokesman stated in a press release, by an intruder who reportedly broke in by way of a rear entrance at about 2:27 a.m. In a follow-up assertion, Hamill stated the “assailant acted with power, and threatened [Paul Pelosi’s] life whereas demanding to see the Speaker.”
The assailant was recognized by San Francisco Police Chief William Scott as David DePape. Scott stated officers encountered DePape and Mr. Pelosi “each holding a hammer” after they arrived. “The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him with it. Our officers instantly tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup, and rendered medical support.”
Scott listed the fees DePape is predicted to face as tried homicide, elder abuse, housebreaking, and “a number of different further felonies,” noting that the motivation for the assault remains to be below investigation. CNN reported that the intruder shouted, “The place is Nancy, the place is Nancy?” after getting into the house, and tried to tie Mr. Pelosi up “till Nancy received residence.”
David DePape
Michael Brief/San Francisco Chronicle by way of AP
Pelosi was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco Common Hospital the place he underwent surgical procedure for a cranium fracture and “severe accidents” to his proper arm and palms, in accordance with Hamill, who stated medical doctors “count on a full restoration.”
On a private web site uncovered by The Day by day Beast, DePape shared collection of maximum right-wing opinions, from anti-LGBT sentiments to COVID disinformation.
DePape had additionally posted YouTube movies about 2020 election conspiracies and the Home committee investigating the Capitol riot, CNN reported.
Reached by cellphone at her residence in British Columbia, DePape’s stepmother, Teresa DePape, advised The Day by day Beast, “David has all the time had an opinion.”
“I’m one in every of these individuals who thinks everyone has an opinion, and I used to be raised when sticks and stones would break your bones, however phrases won't ever harm you,” she stated. “However hammers will not be phrases.”
She stated the household had not but spoken to DePape, who stays in police custody, and DePape’s father, Gene, was at work and unavailable to remark.
The intruder reportedly broke into the Pelosi residence by way of a rear entrance.
KGO TV by way of ABC by way of REUTERS
She stated her stepson selected to remain in B.C. with Gene when Gene divorced DePape’s mom. His solely sibling, a sister, moved away, she stated.
DePape finally moved to California, received married, and had youngsters, Teresa stated, describing her shock on the information of her stepson’s arrest. Gene advised CNN his son adopted a love curiosity to California about 20 years in the past.
“I solely have him as an excellent child,” Teresa advised The Day by day Beast earlier than getting off the cellphone to name the San Francisco PD, saying she needed to talk to DePape first earlier than commenting additional. “Though, at this level, he’s not a child anymore.”
DePape seems to have offered hemp jewellery, although the web site for his enterprise is at present down. (His solely tweet reads “Mushroom Hemp Necklaces” and comprises a damaged hyperlink; his Pinterest web page comprises damaged hyperlinks to a number of multi-colored necklaces.)
Two kinfolk advised CNN that DePape is estranged from his household, and an acquaintance from eight years in the past stated he was combating onerous medicine on the time however was “attempting to create a brand new life for himself.” She stated she lower off contact with DePape after receiving “disturbing” emails through which he sounded “harmful” and “out of contact with actuality.” A second girl who labored with DePape a couple of decade in the past stated he advised her he spoke to angels and that there was “a tough time coming.” Each ladies stated he lived in a storage shed or storage unit on the time.
DePape’s final recognized deal with was in Berkeley, California, the place he lived with nude activist Gypsy Taub. (Taub is probably finest recognized for her nude nuptials in San Francisco, the place DePape served as finest man.) An SF Gate article from 2013 described the condo as a three-bedroom, six-person flat that was “perpetually freezing.” DePape reportedly served as a “father determine” to Taub’s three kids, who additionally lived within the condo.
DePape, Taub, and her kids attended a communal Thanksgiving dinner at a market in Oakland in 2008, in accordance with the Oakland Tribune. Taub was quoted as saying, “We like to fulfill our neighbors. I would like my kids to study that everybody is a human being and a buddy.”
Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Company by way of Getty
Taub’s daughter advised The Day by day Beast on Friday afternoon that her mom is presently in jail and that the household received’t be commenting on the allegations towards DePape till she is launched in one other 2.5 months.
Two sources who spoke to the Related Press stated Mr. Pelosi sustained blunt power accidents to his head and physique in the course of the early morning assault, leaving him with bruising and extreme swelling.
A spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi, who was in D.C. on the time, stated her husband was taken to the hospital “the place he's receiving glorious medical care and is predicted to make a full restoration.”
Shattered panes of glass in what gave the impression to be the Pelosi residence’s rear entrance have been seen in footage from a neighborhood information chopper hovering over the scene.
America Capitol Police stated in a press release that the Speaker was in D.C. along with her protecting element on the time. It’s not clear what safety element was on the Pelosis’ residence, if any.
“Particular Brokers with the USCP’s California Discipline Workplace rapidly arrived on scene, whereas a staff of investigators from the Division’s Menace Evaluation Part was concurrently dispatched from the East Coast to help the FBI and the San Francisco Police with a joint investigation,” Capitol Police stated in a press release, including that the assailant’s motive was nonetheless below investigation.
Larry Kamer, Mr. Pelosi’s spokesperson, advised The Day by day Beast on Friday morning that he didn't have any data to supply.
Assaults are up 11 p.c this 12 months in San Francisco, and robberies are up 5 p.c, though housebreaking has truly fallen considerably in 2022, in accordance with statistics on the town police division’s web site.
Threats towards members of Congress, particularly, have skyrocketed just lately, with the variety of investigations launched by Capitol Police rising from 3,939 in 2017 to 9,625 in 2021, in accordance with stats supplied to The Hill final month.
Members have been granted further funding for residence safety, however extra is required as threats proceed to escalate, in accordance with the AP.
Based on a report launched final week by Princeton College’s Bridging Divides Initiative, threats and harassment towards public officers have reached “an inflection level.” Targeted totally on native officers, the report discovered “growing basic assist for the usage of threats and harassment... with respondents justifying such assaults on ideological grounds.”
Of 400 instances between 2020 and 2022, about 40 p.c have been associated to election points, 30 p.c have been associated to training points, and 29 p.c to well being points—overwhelmingly COVID-19, the report discovered, noting that feminine officers have been focused 3.4 occasions greater than males.
“Thank God [Nancy Pelosi’s] husband Paul is secure after being attacked of their residence by an assailant,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) tweeted Friday. “Whereas the motive remains to be unknown we all know the place this type of violence is sanctioned and modeled.”
—with further reporting by Zachary Petrizzo