US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and husband Paul Pelosi in New York in 2019
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • Court filings showed that suspect David DePape was allegedly on a "suicide mission"
  • Paul Pelosi was asleep at his San Francisco home when DePape broke in

David Wayne DePape, the 42-year-old man who broke into Speaker Nancy Pelosi's home and assaulted her husband, was allegedly on a "suicide mission" when he entered the couple's residence, court filings revealed.

Documents filed by prosecutors in San Francisco County Superior Court narrated how the suspect broke into the San Francisco house and planned to hold Pelosi hostage, The Washington Post reported.

DePape allegedly entered the home using a hammer and found Pelosi's sleeping husband, Paul. The suspect asked Paul about his wife's whereabouts while holding a large hammer and several plastic zip ties, "Where's Nancy? Where's Nancy?"

Paul told DePape that she would not be back home for days and that was when the suspect attempted to tie him up.

When asked why he wanted to talk with the speaker, DePape told the businessman, "Well, she's number two in line for the presidency, right?"

The suspect added, "They are all corrupt" and "We've got to take them out."

Court filings also revealed Paul calling 911 for help, with DePape allegedly forcing him to tell the dispatcher that he was a friend of their family.

The owner of the Sacramento Mountain Lions, however, told the operator that he did not know the suspect. He also asked for the Capitol police "because they are usually at the house protecting his wife."

Police officers later arrived at the house and found Pelosi and DePape scrambling for the hammer. The suspect allegedly attacked Paul and knocked him unconscious after the police asked him to drop the weapon.

State prosecutors described the attack as "near fatal."

"Mr. Pelosi remained unresponsive for three minutes, waking up in a pool of his own blood," the court documents read.

DePape later told the police that while he didn't want to hurt Paul, he was "not going to stand there and do nothing."

"I didn't really want to hurt him, but you know this was a suicide mission," the suspect reportedly said.

DePape claimed in his affidavit that he wanted to take Speaker Pelosi hostage because she was the "leader of the pack" of lies told by the Democratic Party. He also added that if Pelosi lied to him, he intended to break her kneecaps.

"She would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other Members of Congress there were consequences to actions," according to the filings.

Prosecutors also said DePape had a target list of prominent state and federal politicians, including their relatives.

DePape appeared in court Tuesday, where he was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, among others.

Pelosi remains in the hospital after the attack and is making "steady progress on what will be a long recovery process," the speaker said in a Twitter post.

'Our children, our grandchildren and I are heartbroken and traumatized by the life-threatening attack on our Pop,' Nancy Pelosi said of the attack on her husband at their home
AFP