Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was assaulted by a man who broke into the couple’s house in San Francisco early on Friday morning and attacked him with a hammer, the authorities said.
Mr. Pelosi was ‘violently assaulted’ with a hammer, the police said.
Three San Francisco police officers responding to an emergency call burst into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home just before 2:30 a.m. local time on Friday to find Mr. Pelosi, 82, and an intruder grappling over a hammer, the authorities said
The intruder ripped the hammer out of Mr. Pelosi’s grip and “violently assaulted him with it” in front of the officers, Chief William Scott of the San Francisco police said at a news conference.
The officers tackled the assailant and disarmed him, Chief Scott said, before requesting backup and giving medical aid. Both men were taken to a hospital, he said.
A spokesman for Ms. Pelosi, Drew Hammill, said in a statement on Friday that Mr. Pelosi underwent surgery after sustaining a skull fracture and serious injuries to his hands and right arm and was expected to make a full recovery.
It was Mr. Pelosi who had called 911 from a bathroom after the intruder broke through a back door of the home. He had a veiled conversation with a police dispatcher, who recognized the situation as dire, bringing a rapid police response, the San Francisco district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, said in a news conference late Friday.
The police have a suspect in custody.
The authorities identified the attacker as David DePape, 42. Chief Scott said Mr. DePape would be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary and “several other additional felonies.”
Ms. Jenkins, said on Twitter that Mr. DePape would be arraigned on Tuesday.
The authorities are looking into whether the suspect is the same person responsible for blog posts that espoused antisemitism and contained an array of angry and paranoid postings, including concerns about pedophilia, anti-white racism and “elite” control of the internet.
The Capitol Police said special agents from its field office in California “quickly arrived on scene.” Investigators from the agency’s threat assessment section on the East Coast were dispatched to assist the F.B.I. and the San Francisco police.
The Speaker was not at home.
Ms. Pelosi was in Washington with her protective detail at the time of the break-in, the Capitol Police said.
The Pelosis have owned a three-floor red brick townhouse in San Francisco’s exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood since 1987. In January 2021, after Congress passed a stimulus bill, their home was vandalized with graffiti, and a pig’s head was left on the sidewalk. The vandalism occurred before the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
A motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
The motive for the attack on Mr. Pelosi was not clear on Friday morning, but the assailant was in search of Ms. Pelosi, according to a person briefed on the attack. Before the assault occurred, the intruder confronted Mr. Pelosi in their home shouting, “Where is Nancy? Where is Nancy?”
Since the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, members of Congress from both parties have experienced a surge in threats and confrontations, including stalking, armed visits to their homes and assaults.
Who is Paul Pelosi?
Mr. Pelosi is a real estate and technology investor. He met Ms. Pelosi at Georgetown University in Washington, and they married in 1963.
He was also in the news in August, when he pleaded guilty to a single count of driving under the influence of alcohol in connection with a car accident in Napa County, Calif., where the Pelosis own a vineyard. He was sentenced to five days in jail, though he did not have to serve that time, and eight hours of community service.
The White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said on Friday that President Biden had called Ms. Pelosi and that he was praying for Mr. Pelosi and the Pelosi family. “The President continues to condemn all violence, and asks that the family’s desire for privacy be respected,” Ms. Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
