Chilling new details continue to emerge about last week’s attack on House Speaker Nancy’s Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, at their San Francisco home as the suspect faces formal charges on Monday.
Authorities said that David DePape, 42, attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer inside the Pelosis’ San Francisco home early Friday. A source who was briefed on the attack said the assailant repeatedly shouted, “Where is Nancy?” after breaking in.
Police arrived on the scene after being alerted by a call from Pelosi, who managed to conceal the call from his attacker.
A law enforcement source told The Times that the suspect arrived at the home with zip ties.
At a news conference Sunday, San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins said DePape was looking for Democrat Nancy Pelosi, broke into the Pacific Heights home and made it to the second floor, where he confronted Paul Pelosi.
“It was a forced entry to the rear door of the home. ... He ultimately made his way upstairs, where he confronted Mr. Pelosi,” she said.
Pelosi told the intruder that he had to use the bathroom, then made a surreptitious 911 call on his cellphone and left the line open, sources familiar with the attack told The Times. Dispatcher Heather Grimes could hear Pelosi talking to his attacker and alerted officers to the scene.
In a communication between a dispatcher and a police car, the dispatcher says: “There’s a male in the home and that he’s going to wait for his wife.” The dispatcher said the man on the line “doesn’t know who the male is, but he advises that his name is David and then [said] he is a friend.” The caller, she added, “sounded somewhat confused.”
A law enforcement source in San Francisco said officials believe Pelosi was intentionally giving coded information because the intruder knew Pelosi was on the phone and wanted to signal to the dispatcher that something was wrong.
DePape was booked Friday afternoon on suspicion of attempted murder, first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, threatening a family member of a public official, elder abuse, battery with serious bodily injury, dissuading a witness and injuring a wireless device.
A Times review of his online accounts show that DePape had been drifting further into the world of far-right conspiracies, antisemitism and hate.
Police have not offered a motive for the attack.
Paul Pelosi, 82, is recovering from surgery at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital “to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” said Drew Hammill, a spokesperson for Nancy Pelosi’s office. He is expected to recover fully.
“They’re rebuilding him,” his son Paul Pelosi Jr. told reporters Sunday at the hospital.
