The man who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s husband, with a hammer has been named as David Depape by the San Francisco Police Department.
The 42-year-old is believed to have entered the Pelosi home through its rear and shouted, “Where’s Nancy?”, looking for the Democratic speaker of the House, who was in Washington, DC, at the time, the New York Post reports.
Depape is then said to have attempted to tie Paul up, saying they were going to wait “until Nancy got home”, according to CNN.
San Francisco Police Chief William “Bill” Scott said officers were dispatched to the Pelosi residence in the Pacific Heights neighbourhood at 2.27am local time on Friday, where they encountered the suspect and Paul, who both appeared to be holding a hammer.
The suspect then “pulled the hammer away from Paul and violently attacked him with it,” Scott said.
“Our officers tackled the suspect, disarmed him and took him into custody, requested emergency backup and rendered medical aid,” he added.
Pelosi and Depape were both taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, where NBC reported Pelosi was undergoing surgery.
Scott also said Depape has been booked on charges of attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary, and “several other additional felonies”.
A motive for the crime is still being determined, according to San Francisco police.
Pictures of the Pelosi residence showed an open window at the back of the house with smashed panes, indicating that was how the intruder gained entry.
Local news station KRON talked to a neighbour who said the Pelosis have “tons of security” when Nancy is in town, but much less when she is away.
Two of Depape’s relatives who spoke to CNN said he was originally from British Columbia, Canada, but had moved to California around 20 years ago. They also said he was estranged from his family.
Other people who had known him told CNN he had struggled with hard drugs and lived in a storage unit in the Berkeley area.
A local website published a photo of a man named David Depape in December 2013 in which he was described as a friend of a “nudity activist” planning a naked wedding in Berkeley, California.
The man pictured was huddled under a blanket, had long greasy hair and wore a hoodie.
An online blog named frenlyfrens.com was started in August of this year by a person with the screen name DavidDepape, which featured a number of disturbing conspiracy-led posts and rants.
Headings on the blog included Climate Hysteria, Covid, Immigrants, Pedo Gate and Communism.
Various news sites published that Depape had posted conspiracy theories on Facebook and YouTube falsely claiming Covid vaccines were deadly and the 2020 election was stolen.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post and has been republished with permission.
