Update: Police chief cites dispatcher intuition in getting police to Pelosi house break-in fast
Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was hospitalized early Friday after being “violently assaulted” in a targeted attack at the couple’s San Francisco home.
The assailant, 42-year-old David DePape, attacked Paul Pelosi with a hammer during the home invasion around 2:30 in the morning, said San Francisco Police Chief Bill Scott.
“This was not a random act. This was intentional,” Scott said during an evening news briefing.
DePape was looking for Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and asked, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?” per initial reports.
Paul Pelosi told responders that he did not know who DePape was but that DePape had claimed he “was a friend” and was waiting for Pelosi’s wife, per audio recording between a dispatcher and law enforcement officials.
Scott said that the dispatcher’s intuition helped her understand the severity of the situation — which, given the information officers had at the time, would not normally be as highly prioritized — to get law enforcement to the scene faster.
“This was a well-being check,” Scott said. “And she just knew there was more to it so she alerted our officers. She went that extra step.”
Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered blunt force trauma to his head and body but was expected to recover. He was admitted to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and underwent surgery for “skull fracture and serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” according to the speaker’s office.
Scott said that Paul Pelosi was struck at least once with a hammer. He said that officers were outside the house when they witnessed him and DePape grappling over a single hammer that the intruder struck Pelosi with.
DePape was also hospitalized and remained there as of 6 p.m. Pacific Time, Scott said. The police chief said he would be booked at the San Francisco County Jail on charges of “attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and several other additional felonies.”
Scott said that the San Franciso Police department was leading the investigation into the attack and that the motive for it was still being determined. The FBI and U.S. Capitol Police are working with the department in a joint investigation into the break-in, according to an announcement by the Capitol Police.
U.S. Capitol Police are charged with protecting the speaker and her family, Scott noted, but that the “San Francisco Police Department will assist in any way we can.”
The speaker was in Washington and not in her Pacific Heights home when the break-in took place.
“Early this morning, an assailant broke into the Pelosi residence in San Francisco and violently assaulted Mr. Pelosi,” the speaker’s office said in statement.
“The speaker and her family are grateful to the first responders and medical professionals involved, and request privacy at this time,” the speaker’s office added.
Special agents with the Capitol Police’s California field office “quickly arrived on scene,” the federal agency said, “while a team of investigators from the department’s Threat Assessment Section was simultaneously dispatched from the East Coast to assist the FBI and the San Francisco Police with a joint investigation.”
Paul Pelosi, a businessman who owns a real estate and venture capital firm, was sentenced in August to five days in jail and three years of probation after he was charged with driving under the influence and causing injury in a car crash. He had been arrested in Napa County in May after his 2021 Porsche struck a 2014 Jeep north of the town of Yountville.
President Joe Biden called Pelosi Friday morning after hearing the news and condemned the “horrible attack,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
“The president is praying for Paul Pelosi and for Speaker Pelosi’s whole family,” Jean-Pierre said. “He is also very glad that a full recovery is expected. The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected.”
Threats of violence against members of Congress have surged since former President Donald Trump took office, according to a New York Times review of indictments. Threats against members of Congress reached an all-time high in the year following the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, according to U.S. Capitol Police data shared at a Jan. 2022 hearing.
“The heinous assault on Paul Pelosi is another example of the dangerous consequences of the divisive and hateful rhetoric putting lives at risk and undermining our very democracy and Democratic institutions,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement.
Republican and Democratic members of Congress said they were horrified by the attack, wished Paul Pelosi a speedy recovery and thanked law enforcement.
“The entire Pelosi family is in our hearts and we wish him a speedy recovery,” Vice President Kamala Harris wrote in a post on Twitter.
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 7:01 AM.
