Suspect was ‘targeting’ Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in home break-in, district attorney says

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A 29-year-old suspect in a break-in at the home of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass last weekend was charged Tuesday with burglary and vandalism, and authorities said they believe he was “targeting” the mayor but did not know why.

Ephraim Matthew Hunter, a Los Angeles resident, was charged with a felony count of first-degree residential burglary and a felony count of vandalism, Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said. Hunter shattered a rear glass door early Sunday morning to gain entry to the Getty House, the mayor’s official residence near downtown, and was cut by glass and left blood stains throughout the home, Gascón said.

The mayor, her daughter, son-in-law and grandchild were in the home at the time.

“We believe that he was targeting the mayor,” Gascón said, without providing specific details how investigators reached that conclusion. “We are going on the assumption that he knew that it was her residence.”

“We are glad that there were no injuries, and the mayor is OK,” Gascón added.

Hunter is being held on $100,000 bail.

Bass told reporters Monday, “I am fine. My family is fine.”

The Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office, which is representing Hunter, said in a statement that “our office will ensure that Mr. Hunter receives a fair and robust defense and a full investigation into the circumstances which led to the accusations against him.”

Bass’ office and the Los Angeles Police Department did not respond to questions about security protocols at the residence.

Interim Police Chief Dominic Choi told reporters Tuesday that Hunter, who reached the second floor of the home, broke in during a time when there were no security officers on the property. Hunter arrived at the home in a brief gap during a shift change, which has been remedied to create an overlap of shifts, Choi said.

The Los Angeles Times, citing public records, said Hunter was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon following a 2015 attack on a man in Massachusetts and served seven years in state prison.

The newspaper said Josephine Duah, who identified herself as Hunter’s mother, said she spoke with her son Monday from jail, and he told her he allegedly entered the property because he believed he was being pursued by someone who wanted to harm him and did not know who owned the residence. She said her son planned to enter a drug treatment clinic on Monday but never made it.

Bass served as a Democratic member of Congress from 2011 until her election as the city’s 43rd mayor in 2022. The former state Assembly leader is the first woman and second Black person to hold the post, after former Mayor Tom Bradley, who held the position from 1973 to 1993.

The arrest recalled the October 2022 break-in at former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home, in which her husband, Paul Pelosi, was attacked with a hammer. A jury last year found David DePape guilty of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official.

The attack raised questions about the security provided for members of Congress and their families. The U.S. Capitol Police had a camera at the residence. But it was not being monitored at the time of the attack because Nancy Pelosi was not home.

The Associated Press