Moment of hammer attack on Paul Pelosi shown in new police bodycam video
Police bodycam video has been released showing the moment a man attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband with a hammer in his San Francisco home.
Officers knock repeatedly on the front door – when it opens Mr Pelosi is holding the head of the hammer while the intruder is gripping the handle and trying to prise the 82-year-old’s hand away.
Mr Pelosi refuses to let go, before the suspect suddenly seizes control and lunges at him with the weapon.
It’s at this point Sky News has decided to stop the footage.
Police rush in, jump on the attacker and push him face down on the ground as Mr Pelosi lies motionless next to him.
The 28 October attack knocked Mr Pelosi unconscious and he had surgery to repair a skull fracture and serious injuries to his arm and hands.
Former US House speaker Nancy Pelosi, one of the most senior politicians in the US, was David DePape’s intended target but was in Washington at the time.
The attack happened at the couple’s San Francisco home in October
She said on Friday that she wasn’t going to watch the video.
“I have not heard the 911 call. I have not heard the confession. I have not seen the break-in. And I have absolutely no intention of seeing the deadly assault on my husband,” she said.
Mrs Pelosi said her husband was “making progress” but it will “take more time”.
The video is part of evidence newly released after journalists challenged a decision to keep it out of public view.
CCTV also shows DePape as he prepared to break into the house. Pic: AP
Mr Pelosi had surgery on his head and has worn a hat for recent appearances. Pic: AP
It also includes some of Mr Pelosi’s 911 call, images from police surveillance cameras and video from DePape’s police interview.
The surveillance video shows the suspect using a hammer to smash the glass of a door to get into the house.
DePape, 42, denies all the charges against him. They include attempted kidnapping, attempted murder, elder abuse and burglary.
Police said he told them there was “evil in Washington” and that he planned to hold Mrs Pelosi hostage for allegedly lying to the public.
He also believed the discredited theory that the US election was stolen from Donald Trump.
Court documents also reveal he told officers he was on a “suicide mission” while in interviews DePape named Tom Hanks as among other targets.
Immigration officials identified him as a Canadian citizen who was in the US illegally after entering as a visitor.
Anti-Trump protests took place across America on Saturday, with demonstrators decrying the administration’s immigration crackdown and mass firings at government agencies.
Events ranged from small local marches to a rally in front of the White House and a demonstration at a Massachusetts commemoration of the start of the Revolutionary War 250 years ago.
Thomas Bassford, 80, was at the battle reenactment with his two grandsons, as well as his partner and daughter.
He said: “This is a very perilous time in America for liberty. I wanted the boys to learn about the origins of this country and that sometimes we have to fight for freedom.”
At events across the country, people carried banners with slogans including “Trump fascist regime must go now!”, “No fear, no hate, no ICE in our state,” and “Fight fiercely, Harvard, fight,” referencing the university’s recent refusal to hand over much of its control to the government.
Some signs name-checked Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadorian citizen living in Maryland, who the Justice Department admits was mistakenly deported to his home country.
Read more: Donald Trump’s deportations explained
Pic: AP
People waved US flags, some of them held upside down to signal distress. In San Francisco, hundreds of people spelt out “Impeach & Remove” on a beach, also with an inverted US flag.
People walked through downtown Anchorage in Alaska with handmade signs listing reasons why they were demonstrating, including one that read: “No sign is BIG enough to list ALL of the reasons I’m here!”
Pic: AP
Protests also took place outside Tesla car dealerships against the role Elon Musk ahas played in downsizing the federal government as de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
The protests come just two weeks after similar nationwide demonstrations.
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Organisers are opposing what they call Mr Trump’s civil rights violations and constitutional violations, including efforts to deport scores of immigrants and to scale back the federal government by firing thousands of government workers and effectively shuttering entire agencies.
The Trump administration, among other things, has moved to shutter Social Security Administration field offices, cut funding for government health programs and scale back protections for transgender people.
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