SAN FRANCISCO Source: NYT — In the early hours of Saturday morning (Friday morning in the US), an intruder entered through a back door of the stately home in San Francisco’s upscale Pacific Heights neighborhood, yelling, “Where is Nancy?”
Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House, was thousands of miles away in Washington, D.C., protected by her security detail, but her husband, 82-year-old Paul Pelosi, was home.
By the time police officers arrived after being dispatched at 2:27 a.m., they found the assailant and Mr. Pelosi wrestling for control of a hammer.
William Scott, San Francisco’s Chief of police said that when officers arrived they saw Mr Pelosi and the suspect each with a hand on a hammer.
Officers then ordered both men to drop the hammer.
The intruder then pulled the hammer away and “violently attacked” Mr. Pelosi with it in front of the officers, said William Scott.
“This was not a random act. This was intentional,” Chief Scott told media at a news conference.
Mr Pelosi is reported to be recovering in hospital after brain surgery following the attack.
The suspect has been identified as being 42 year old David DePape.
Brooke Jenkins, the San Francisco District Attorney says authorities investigating the attack on Paul Pelosi are looking into whether the suspect is the same person responsible for blog posts that have espoused antisemitism and other hateful comments.
Asked whether there were links between the suspect, David DePape, and the blog posts, Ms. Jenkins said in an interview with The New York Times that it was an element of the ongoing investigation, but that nothing had been determined yet.
