Who is David DePape? Liberal, nudist, hemp jewelry maker had 'hitlist of politicians' and deranged history
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA: David DePape, the man who attacked Nancy Pelosi's husband Paul with a hammer on October 28, has previously struggled with drugs and posted crazed Covid conspiracy theories, antisemitic rants, racist slurs and unhinged screeds on religion online. DePape was also part of a nudist wedding back in 2013.
Police said they arrested hemp jewelry maker DePape, 42, after he broke into Pelosi's $6 million San Francisco home at 2.27 am in his underwear and beat 82-year-old Paul Pelosi with a hammer while shouting “where's Nancy.” When cops arrived at the property in the exclusive Pacific Heights neighborhood they saw the suspect grapple with Pelosi, take the hammer and then hit him with it, causing severe head, arm and hand injuries. Glass panes at a door leading to their house were damaged as DePape entered the Pelosi home through a sliding door at the back of the house. When DePape was apprehended, police discovered a manifesto with anti-government Covid beliefs as well as a list of further lawmakers he intended to attack, according to KTVU. While DePape is in custody and is expected to be charged with numerous offenses, including attempted homicide. Pelosi underwent surgery to repair a skull fracture following the attack and is expected to make a full recovery at the Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital.
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Who is David DePape?
DePape is a native of Berkeley, California. He spent his formative years in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. While living in California, he was well-known in Berkeley for campaigning against regulations requiring people to wear clothing in public while exposing themselves. DePape was chosen as the best man for Taub and her fiancé Jaymz Smith's nudist wedding in 2013 but he kept dressed and shot pictures throughout the event, drawing a sizable police presence.
There are two conspiracy blogs associated with DePape. One of them, "Big Brother Censorship Hell," has a banner alerting readers that “The elites/ruling class never censor themselves. You can still turn on any mainstream news channel to hear day and night the narrative put forth by the people who rule you.” The majority of the posts made with the account daviddepape are blank, however some of them have odd headings like "Pedophile normalization" and "Communist Voodoo science." Although the site's first post was made in June 2007, it was most recently updated in August 2022.
Frenlyfrens.com, the second site, features entries with more in-depth content under headings like "Climate hysteria" and "Corruption." A number of the messages promote anti-Semitic conspiracies, including one that asks, “Isn’t their [sic] a trope about Jews ABUSING the courts to rip people off.” Although it is unknown if DePape who has been reported to reside in storage containers wrote these blogs. His family members and friends verified to CNN that he frequently discussed conspiracy theories on Facebook and appeared to be "out of touch with reality." Numerous posts on DePape's Facebook page which has since been taken down contained inaccurate information about the Covid pandemic, the 2020 presidential election and the Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Along with a number of posts that were transphobic, DePape also shared links to websites that claimed falsely that the Covid vaccine was lethal.