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A trail of strained relationships. An itinerant life that included a stint living in a storage unit. A personality that was “consumed by darkness.”
Accounts from people who know the man accused of the break-in and violent attack Friday on Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, described indications of a troubled individual and growing signs of politically fueled hate.
That man, David DePape, 42, remains in custody and will likely face several charges, including attempted homicide and assault with a deadly weapon, as early as Monday, with an arraignment expected Tuesday, authorities said. The San Francisco district attorney, Brooke Jenkins, said Saturday that DePape had given a statement to the San Francisco Police Department, although she declined to elaborate.
According to law enforcement officials, DePape broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home in the early morning hours Friday through a back entrance. He was looking for Nancy Pelosi, who was in Washington, authorities have said, and yelled, “Where is Nancy?” In a struggle with Paul Pelosi, 82, over a hammer, DePape struck Paul Pelosi with it at least once as the police arrived and apprehended him, police said.
At the house, DePape had zip ties, a person with knowledge of the investigation said Sunday.
On Saturday, Nancy Pelosi said in a letter to colleagues that her husband’s condition was continuing to improve and that she thanked them for their support.
“Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop,” she wrote. “We are grateful for the quick response of law enforcement and emergency services, and for the lifesaving medical care he is receiving.”
Jenkins said that DePape had sustained “minor injuries” and had been treated at a hospital, but it was uncertain Saturday evening whether he was still receiving medical care.
A precise sequence of the break-in is still emerging, and a portrait of DePape is only beginning to take shape. People who have known him at various points in his life reveal a shy person who sought to improve the world but also as someone whose life seemed to drift and whose behavior seemed strange at times, even unhinged.
When Linda Schneider, 65, knew DePape for a couple of years starting in 2009, she was running an urban farm for low-income communities in the East Bay area. DePape would help her with her chickens and occasionally housesit for her, she said.
At the time, DePape was living out of a storage unit in Berkeley and making hemp bracelets, said Schneider, who still lives in California. He had been using hard drugs but was trying to straighten his life, she said.
