Sandy MaloneSan Francisco, CA – There were security cameras filming at Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s (D-California) residence when an illegal immigrant broke in and attacked her 82-year-old husband with a hammer last week, but they weren’t being monitored because the Speaker wasn’t at home.
U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) said in a statement that the security cameras “are used to actively monitor the speaker’s San Francisco residence around the clock when she is there,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
However, USCP said that when Nancy Pelosi is in her residence in the nation’s capital, the cameras are “not actively monitored,”
Sources told The Washington Post that the Capitol Police in DC only became aware of the break-in at the Pelosis’ San Francisco residence when an officer saw police lights pop up in the live video feed of the Speaker’s West Coast home.
The officer quickly checked other camera angles from around Pelosis’ home and then backtracked, looking for what had led to the police response.
The sources said that when the officer reviewed the footage from before the police arrived, they found video of a man with a hammer breaking a glass panel on the back of the Speaker’s home.
Then sources said the video showed the intruder – later identified as 42-year-old David DePape – went inside the Pelosi home looking for Nancy Pelosi but instead found her husband alone and asleep, The Washington Post reported.
Paul Pelosi told DePape that his wife wasn’t home and the home invader said he would wait for her.
The Speaker’s husband managed to dial 911 from a phone in the bathroom and was able to convey the urgency of the situation to an alert dispatcher who immediately sent San Francisco police officers to the residence.
When police arrived, Paul Pelosi and DePape were struggling over a hammer that the suspect had brought with him along with a bag of zip ties and duct tape, according to charging documents.
DePape managed to get the hammer away from the 82 year old and then bashed him in the head with it, fracturing his skull.
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins filed court documents on Nov. 1 said that Paul Pelosi was “knocked unconscious” by DePape and woke up in a “pool of his own blood,” according to FOX News.
Court documents said Paul Pelosi was unconscious for three minutes and that Ring cameras in the house captured everything that happened.
Jenkins told the court that DePape had “several targets” that night that included a local professor and several prominent state and federal politicians, in addition to Nancy Pelosi, FOX News reported.
He also planned to go after some of those lawmakers’ family members, according to court documents.
Officials have not yet released the audio of the 911 call Paul Pelosi made from the bathroom, nor have they released any of the security footage from the break in and attack on the Speaker’s husband, CNN reported.
San Francisco authorities said that the audio recording and video footage would be shown to a member of the Pelosi family but there were no plans for a public release at this time.
DePape has been charged with a slew of federal and state charges that included attempted kidnapping and assault with intent to retaliate against a federal official by threatening or injuring a family member, 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, NBC News reported.
He has been held without bond.
Meanwhile, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a detainer for the suspect that informed local authorities the agency intended to take custody of DePape when he is released, CNN reported.
“U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) lodged an immigration detainer on Canadian national David DePape with San Francisco County Jail, Nov. 1, following his Oct. 28 arrest,” the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a statement late on Nov. 2.
CNN reported that DePape grew up in Powell River, British Columbia and had “left Canada about 20 years ago to pursue a relationship that brought him to California.”
Federal records showed that DePape most recently entered the United States as a temporary visitor in March at the San Ysidro port of entry on the California-Mexico border, CNN reported.
Canadians who visit for business or pleasure may stay in the country for up to six months before they require a visa.
Holly Matkin
