US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband assaulted with hammer at home

San Francisco: An intruder demanding to see US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attacked her husband with a hammer during a break-in at the couple’s San Francisco home early on Friday, officials said, in an assault that raised fears about political violence ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections.

Paul Pelosi, 82, was taken to a San Francisco hospital where he underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture and severe injuries to his right arm and hands, a spokesperson for the House speaker said in a statement, adding that a full recovery was expected.

The man arrested at the scene, David Depape, 42, will be charged with attempted homicide, assault with a deadly weapon, elder abuse, burglary, and several other felony charges, San Francisco Police Chief William Scott said.

The Democratic speaker of the US House of Representatives, who is second in the constitutional line of succession to the US presidency, was in Washington with her protective detail at the time of the assault, according to the US Capitol Police.

Authorities were still investigating a motive for the predawn attack, which was witnessed and interrupted by police officers dispatched



to the Pelosi home for an “A-priority wellbeing check,” Scott told reporters.

CNN reported that Paul Pelosi had called emergency-911 and spoke in “code,” not saying directly that he was under attack but leading the dispatcher to the conclusion that something was wrong.

It was unclear how the intruder got into the three-story red brick townhouse in the affluent Pacific Heights neighborhood. Aerial photos showed shattered glass on a door at the rear of the house.

Streets around the residence were closed off following the attack, which occurred less than two weeks before midterm elections in which control of the House and US Senate is at stake.

Scott said police were called to the house at 2:27 a.m. Pacific time (0927 GMT), where they encountered Depape and Paul Pelosi struggling over a hammer, before Depape pulled the hammer away and attacked Pelosi.

Police officers tackled, disarmed and arrested Depape and took both men to a hospital for treatment, Scott said at a press briefing. He declined to answer questions, and said police would provide more details later.