The man suspected of smashing a window and breaking into Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s home Sunday morning had previously been charged with kidnapping and attempted murder in Massachusetts, according to court records .
Ephraim Hunter, 29, allegedly broke into the Getty House in Windsor Square around 6:40 a.m. while Bass and several of his relatives were home, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Hunter was arrested without incident, according to police, who said no one was injured and nothing was stolen.
The 29-year-old Los Angeles resident was arrested on suspicion of burglary Sunday afternoon, police said. A case has not yet been presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office and the case remains under investigation by the LAPD’s elite Robbery-Homicide Division.
In a telephone interview Monday, a woman who identified herself as Hunter’s mother said he suffered from drug addiction and may have been suffering from hallucinations when he allegedly broke into the residence of the mayor.
For memory :
4:17 p.m. April 22, 2024An earlier version of this article misspelled Josephine Duah’s last name as Duaa.
Josephine Duah said Hunter called her from jail Monday morning and claimed he was running from someone “trying to shoot him” and had no idea what house he had entered.
“He didn’t know it at all,” Duah said. “He was just running… he thought someone was chasing him and he jumped some fences and went into the house… I wonder if he was mentally relieved if he saw the police.”
Duah said his son told him he got off a bus near Getty House because he feared someone was chasing him with a shotgun.
Exterior view of the Getty House in Los Angeles.
(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
Investigators have not discussed a motive for the break-in. Two law enforcement sources unauthorized to discuss the open case with the media said Hunter went to the second floor of the home, forcing Bass to hide in a safe area designed to protect against intruders, similar to a panic room.
Detectives plan to present first-degree burglary charges to prosecutors, and a criminal case is expected to be filed Tuesday, according to one of the sources. It is unclear whether Hunter had retained an attorney or had one assigned to him.
A review of court records shows Hunter is from Massachusetts, where he was previously convicted of a violent crime.
In 2015, prosecutors in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, alleged that Hunter was one of four people who used a hammer and a snow brush to beat a man bloody inside a van in Millis , in Massachusetts, about 30 miles from Boston, according to a news report. release. The victim in this case was left unconscious and was transported by helicopter to a Boston hospital.
Hunter and two other men dragged the victim into a van, where officers found the man “unconscious, in the back of the car, no pants, blood on his left leg and blood on his head,” according to a report from the Millis Police Department. .
Hunter was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon and served seven years in state prison, records show.
Duah said her son claimed he was innocent of the assault and refused a plea deal. She said that although Hunter was present during the attack, he did not take part in it.
After he was released from Massachusetts State Prison, Duah said, she urged Hunter to start over somewhere else. Her brother lived in Los Angeles, so he headed west, she said. Hunter’s brother did not immediately respond to a note left seeking comment at their Mid-City apartment.
Duah said her son had a job and was doing well, although she declined to give details. However, in recent weeks, she said he had become erratic. She said he was “smoking” some drug, although she didn’t know what. He was supposed to enter a treatment clinic Monday but never made it, she said.
“All of a sudden he starts calling me to tell me that someone is after him. I’m going, what are you talking about? …He needs help, someone please help him, he’s going to lose his mind,” Duah said, her voice cracking with emotion.
Duah described her son as a “very kind and loving person” whose life was turned upside down by drug use and his time in prison. She repeatedly insisted that her son had no idea he had entered the mayor’s house.
“He doesn’t know anything there. … He was going because he was scared,” she said.
Investigators believe Hunter was intoxicated at the time of the incident, according to a law enforcement source not authorized to speak publicly about the ongoing case.
Appearing Monday at a news conference about her proposed city budget, Bass was repeatedly asked about her message on public safety, as she has now been the victim of two home burglaries over a three-year period.
“Let me just say first of all, I’m fine. My family is fine. And we’re going to do everything we can to keep Angelenos safe,” the mayor said. “I think our budget makes important contributions and investments to keep Angelenos safe.”
Bass thanked the LAPD and noted that the investigation is still ongoing. She declined to comment further.
When asked by a Times reporter if she thought the break-in suspect was targeting her specifically, Bass replied, “I’m not going to answer that question.”
On Sunday, his office released a brief description of what happened.
“This morning, around 6:40 a.m., an intruder broke into Getty House through a window. Mayor Bass and her family were not injured and are safe,” Zach Seidl, deputy mayor for communications, said in a statement.
An LAPD source, not authorized to speak publicly about the matter, said a 24-hour security operation was now in place at Getty House, with police maintaining a visible presence in the area.
Editor of the Times Dakota Smith contributed reporting.
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