Ohio police have arrested a man on suspicion of vandalizing Vice President JD Vance’s residence in Cincinnati on Monday morning, breaking four windows and damaging a Secret Service vehicle.
William DeFoor, 26, was taken into custody on Monday around midnight shortly after the vandalism took place. He is accused of using a hammer to break four windows and is being charged with one count of obstructing official business, one count of criminal damaging or endangering, one count of criminal trespass, and one count of vandalism.
Vance and his family left Ohio hours before the attack.
“As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows. I’m grateful to the secret service and the Cincinnati police for responding quickly,” Vance said on X. “We weren’t even home as we had returned already to DC.”
The Secret Service is coordinating with the Cincinnati Police Department and U.S. Attorney’s Office, spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said.
DeFoor’s history of criminal behavior includes prior charges of vandalism.
The suspect pleaded guilty to two counts of vandalism in April 2025, WXIX-TV reported, after causing more than $2,000 in damage to a local design company. The court sentenced DeFoor to pay restitution and receive treatment at a mental health facility for two years.
DeFoor was also charged in 2023 with criminal trespassing; in that case, a judge determined he was not mentally fit to stand trial.
“On consideration of the report and other evidence before the Court, the Court finds that the defendant is not capable of understanding the nature and objective of the proceedings against the defendant and is not capable of presently assisting in the defense,” Hamilton County Judge Heather Russell wrote at the time.
Some politicians have bolstered security measures after a number of recent, violent attacks on private residences.
Last year in June, Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband Mark were shot dead in their home, and Democratic State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot in their home as well. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz called the former shooting a “politically motivated assassination.”
Also last year, in April, a 38-year-old man broke into Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s (D) residence and set it on fire with a Molotov cocktail. Shapiro, his wife, three of their children, and many houseguests were inside of the home when the arsonist struck.
“It’s hard for me to stand before you today and utter the words ‘attempted murder’ when it’s your own life, to know that someone tried to kill me,” Shapiro said at a news conference.