The Berkeley man suspected in the attack on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband has a history of inflammatory social media posts tying conspiracy theories to the COVID pandemic and 2020 presidential election.
San Francisco police on Friday identified David Depape, 42, as the man suspected of breaking into Pelosi’s San Francisco home early Friday morning and shouting “Where’s Nancy?” before attacking her husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington and not at home.
A complicated picture of Depape’s fringe beliefs began to surface Friday through his online presence and connection to a Bay Area nude activist community. An online blog, Facebook page, and personal website included virulent viewpoints, spanning anti-Semitism, promotion of the far-right QAnon theory, and 2020 election denialism.
A blog, which lists Depape as the author, includes a flurry of posts slamming “woke racists,” proclaiming that Hitler “did nothing wrong,” and lauding podcaster Joe Rogan.
A main focus of Depape’s anger in recent weeks also appears to be social media restrictions. “Tech giants and private industry would be so powerful they could single handedly silence the people,” he said in a post.
San Francisco police officers and F.B.I. agents gather in front of the home of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on October 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi, was violently attacked in their home by an intruder. One arrest has been made. Speaker Pelosi was not at home at the time of the attack. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
In an aerial view, San Francisco police officers and F.B.I. agents gather in front of the home of U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) on October 28, 2022 in San Francisco, California. Paul Pelosi, the husband of U.S. Speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi, was violently attacked in their home by an intruder. One arrest has been made. Speaker Pelosi was not at home at the time of the attack. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
Police stand at the top of the closed street outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Paul Pelosi, was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday, according to people familiar with the investigation. In the background is the Transamerica Pyramid. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
San Francisco Police Chief William Scott holds a press conference, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, revealing details about the break-in at the home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the assault of her husband Paul Pelosi. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
Police investigators work outside the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Paul Pelosi, was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday, according to people familiar with the investigation. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins and Police Chief William Scott speak at a press conference, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022, after the break-in at the home of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and the assault of her husband Paul Pelosi. (Karl Mondon/Bay Area News Group)
A heart shaped sculpture and a light on are seen inside a window of the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Paul Pelosi, was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday, according to people familiar with the investigation. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
A police officer rolls out more yellow tape on the closed street below the home of Paul Pelosi, the husband of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in San Francisco, Friday, Oct. 28, 2022. Paul Pelosi, was attacked and severely beaten by an assailant with a hammer who broke into their San Francisco home early Friday, according to people familiar with the investigation. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)
Depape’s stepfather Gene Depape told CNN the alleged attacker grew up in Powell River, British Columbia, and left Canada about two decades ago.
“I really don’t know what to think,” the suspect’s uncle, Mark Depape told CNN. “Hopefully it’s a scam. I don’t want to hear something like that.”
Depape’s name turns up in a series of local news articles connected to Oxane “Gypsy” Taub, a longtime Bay Area nude activist, who once attempted to hold a naked wedding in front of San Francisco City Hall. A 2008 article in The Oakland Tribune said Depape had three children with Taub.
A 2013 San Francisco Chronicle article referred to Depape as a “hemp jewelry maker and father figure” who doubled as best man at Taub’s wedding. Depape also attended a 2013 “nudity ban protest,” in 2013, according to a story in Indybay, an independent news site.
Linda Schneider, a Bay Area resident, told CNN she has known Depape for about eight years ago. Depape has housesit at her home, Schneider said.
She said Depape had lived in a storage unit in the Berkeley area and struggled with drug usage but was “trying to create a new life for himself,” according to CNN.
Schneider said Depape later sent “really disturbing” emails. He sounded like a “megalomaniac and so out of touch with reality,” she said.
Depape “seemed so dangerous,” she said, claiming that Depape “using Biblical justification to do harm.”
