San Francisco Police Identify Suspect in Paul Pelosi Hammer Attack

Paul Pelosi, husband of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, was attacked early Friday morning, October 28, by an armed assailant that entered his home in San Francisco, police said.

San Francisco Police said units responded to a break-in at 2:27 am, where they found Paul Pelosi, 82, and 42-year-old Berkeley resident David Depape struggling over a hammer. Depape wrestled the hammer away from Pelosi before “violently” attacking him.

Depape was taken into custody and would be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, and other counts. His motive was still being determined.

Pelosi was taken to a local hospital and was undergoing brain surgery, according to reports. Credit: San Francisco Police Department via Storyful

Video transcript

- District Attorney Brooke Jenkins will be providing an update on the incident at Speaker Nancy Pelosi's house. Ladies and gentlemen, Chief Williams and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.

BILL SCOTT: Good morning. We'll go ahead and get started. Good morning, everybody. My name is Bill Scott with the San Francisco Police Department. At approximately 2:27 this morning, San Francisco Police officers were dispatched to the residence of Speaker Nancy Pelosi regarding an A priority well-being check. When the officers arrived on scene, they encountered an adult male and Mrs. Pelosi's husband Paul. Our officers observed Mr. Pelosi and the suspect both holding a hammer. The suspect pulled the hammer away from Mr. Pelosi and violently assaulted him. Our officers immediately tackled the suspect, disarmed him, took him into custody, requested emergency backup, and rendered medical aid.

The suspect has been identified as 42-year-old David Depape. Mr. Pelosi and Mr. Depape were transported to the local hospital for treatment. This is an active investigation currently being led by the San Francisco Police Department Special Investigations division working closely with our partners from the FBI, US Attorney's Office, US Capitol Police and our district attorney here in San Francisco County, DA Brooke Jenkins.

The motive for this attack is still being determined. Mr. Depape will be booked at San Francisco County Jail on the following charges: attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary, and several other additional felonies. Before I go any further, I'd like to thank the responding officers for their swift action this morning. Those San Francisco Police officers are Officer Kobe Williams, Officer Kyle Cagney and Sergeant Edmund Coyne. I'd also like to thank our emergency dispatcher Heather Grimes, who's standing here with all of us for her really amazing response.

For inquiries regarding Mr. Pelosi and his condition, we refer you to the statement issued by Speaker Pelosi's office this morning. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to our District Attorney Brooke Jenkins for a few brief comments. And let me say in advance this is what we know at this time. We will update you further but we will not be able to take any questions after this statement.

BROOKE JENKINS: Thank you, Chief Scott. And I do want to commend the San Francisco Police Department for their immediate response to this call, for swiftly making sure that people are OK, and that the suspect was apprehended. We are working closely with them right now with respect to the investigation and will proceed with the appropriate charges as things unfold, as well as work with the US Attorney's office and our federal partners. Thank you.

BILL SCOTT: All right. Thank you all for being here. I know you may have-- we'll update you when we get more.

- Do you know how he got into the house?

- That's it for right now. We're not going to take any questions. Thank you. We are on this. We will be issuing a news release very soon. That's it for now.