Paul Pelosi attack: Neighbors describe suspect as ‘odd,’ say his ‘intention’ was to ‘traumatize Nancy Pelosi’

RICHMOND, Calif. – Neighbors of the man accused of attacking and severely injuring Paul Pelosi during the early morning hours of Oct. 28 say that he is “odd” and claim his intention was to “traumatize Nancy Pelosi.”

David DePape, 42, faces a slew of felony charges in relation to the attack, which required Paul Pelosi to undergo surgery to repair a skull fracture in addition to other injuries. 

District Attorney Brooke Jenkins announced the charges – including attempted murder, residential burglary, assault with a deadly weapon and elder abuse, among others – during a news conference Monday.

Jenkins said DePape broke into the Pelosis’ residence through a rear glass door and entered a bedroom where Paul Pelosi was sleeping. Paul Pelosi tried to use a phone in the couple’s in-home elevator, but according to Jenkins, DePape blocked him from doing so.

Paul Pelosi was able to escape to a bathroom and dial 911, according to Jenkins.

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When police arrived at the Pelosis’ residence, officers observed Paul Pelosi and DePape struggling over a hammer. When the officers gave an order for the men to drop the hammer, DePape began attacking Paul Pelosi, according to police.

Jenkins said during the Monday news conference that DePape brought at least two hammers and other kidnapping supplies such as zip ties. She added that the attack appeared to be politically motivated. 

During the attack, DePape allegedly demanded to talk to “Nancy,” referring to the House speaker. 

Neighbors of DePape, who was living in a garage in Richmond, California, told reporters Monday that DePape often isolated himself from other people.

“He was an odd guy,” Jin Molnar, one of DePape’s neighbors, said.

When asked about DePape’s politics, Molnar said he was influenced by conservative media in recent years, adding that he was “gravitating towards the new right talking points.”

Molnar said he had worked on the same job site as DePape and said he saw no signs of violence in the suspect, but was not 100% surprised.

“I also was, a little bit, saying ‘oh no’ to myself, because I more or less knew this would happen,” Molnar said. “He didn’t do anything violent or reckless, but that would be the perfect cover for buying his time until he had the chance to do something.”

When asked why he thought DePape went to the Pelosis’ residence and allegedly attacked Paul Pelosi, Molnar said he believed “his intention was to go in and traumatize” Nancy Pelosi.

Molnar also said DePape’s early life in Canada, where he was born, was “rough,” and said that his grandmother “poured hot water on him once.”

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When asked about the boiling water claim, Joanne Robinson, DePape’s sister, told Fox News Digital it was an accident and said that he “had loving parents.”

“He did not grow up in an abusive family.  He had loving parents. He does have a burn from a scalding kettle, but that was a grandma tripping over a toddler completely on accident,” Robinson said.

A federal affidavit filed on Monday also stated that DePape told police he initially intended to hold Speaker Pelosi hostage and interrogate her. “If Nancy were to tell DePape the ‘truth,’ he would let her go, and if she ‘lied,’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps,’” the affidavit stated.

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“DePape also later explained that by breaking Nancy’s kneecaps, she would then have to be wheeled into Congress, which would show other members of Congress that there were consequences to actions,” according to the court document.

The federal affidavit stated that when law enforcement officials executed a search warrant on DePape’s garage residence, they found “two hammers, a sword, and a pair of rubber and cloth gloves.”

An Immigrations and Customers Enforcement source told Fox News that DePape has been in the U.S. illegally after overstaying his visa by a “long time.”

Another one of DePape’s neighbors, Nancy Freeman, said DePape was “very quiet.”

“The whole thing is kind of mysterious. We know as just as anybody else knows,” she said of DePape’s alleged actions.

In addition to state-level charges, DePape also faces several federal charges. Jenkins said during the news conference that the federal charges could put him in prison for decades, with the state-level charges carrying a potential sentence of 13 years to life in prison.

Fox News’ Michael Ruiz and Bill Melugin contributed to this report.