David DePape, the suspect who allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi, the 82-year old husband of the Speaker of the House, was targeting Nancy Pelosi and told police he wanted to “break her kneecaps,” a report from the Associated Press reveals. DePape also “told police he wanted to hold the House Speaker hostage.”
Reports state he brought both a hammer and zip ties to the Pelosi residence.
U.S. Dept. of Justice prosecutors are charging DePape with assault and attempted kidnapping, and state and local prosecutors are believed to be preparing additional charges including attempted homicide.
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The 42-year old DePape, who police state was not known to Paul Pelosi despite far-right wing claims, is being charged with “attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to retaliate against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member,” NBC News reports.
“San Francisco police said DePape would be arraigned on charges of attempted homicide, first-degree burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, aggravated battery with serious bodily injury, elder abuse, threatening a public official, or family member, among others.”
Speaker Nancy Pelosi and family members have been at the intensive care unit bedside of Paul Pelosi, “Pop,” as he is called, after he was beaten with a hammer, and suffered a fractured skull and “serious injuries to his right arm and hands,” the Speaker’s office said in a statement.
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He reportedly was “hit in the head with a hammer multiple times.”
MSNBC reports on-air that “he wanted to target Nancy Pelosi,” according to the affidavit, and he “wanted to physically harm” Speaker Pelosi “as a warning to other members of Congress.”
Pelosi was attacked by a man who broke into their San Francisco home and yelled, “Where is Nancy, where is Nancy?” echoing, as some say, what the January 6 insurrectionists said as they went hunting for the California Democrat who is second in line to the presidency.
“According to a Pelosi family member, the suspect brought the hammer and broke the windows of the Pelosi home facing the backyard. The family member said once inside, the suspect was trying to tie up Paul Pelosi and said they would wait ‘until Nancy got home.’ When the suspect wasn’t looking, Paul called 911. The family member said Paul was home alone and was hit in the head with the hammer multiple times. When the police arrived, the suspect said, ‘We are waiting for Nancy.'”
NBC News reports the suspect had a website on which he posted “almost all manner of modern conspiracy thinking: aliens, Jewish people, communism, vaccines, voter fraud and many other topics.”
“The posts take aspects of liberal anti-establishment ideas to more recent posts that espouse positions typically associated with far-right extremism,” NBC adds.
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