A 26-year-old man has been accused of breaking the windows at Vice President JD Vance’s residence in Cincinnati using a hammer and now faces federal charges.
Reports indicate that the man has a history of legal issues related to mental health. His defense argues that psychological problems, rather than political motivations, drove the act.
William D. DeFoor was charged by criminal complaint with damaging government property, engaging in physical violence against any person or property in a restricted building or grounds, and assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers, according to an affidavit filed Tuesday.
Early Monday, shortly after midnight, U.S. Secret Service agents spotted DeFoor running along the front fence of the protected home. He allegedly crossed the property line at the driveway, tried to smash the driver’s side window of an unmarked federal law enforcement vehicle blocking the entrance, and ignored commands to stop and drop the hammer.
Charging documents state DeFoor then used the tool to break glass windows across the front of the residence, damaging enhanced security assets on each window owned by the U.S. government and valued at more than $28,000. He attempted to flee on foot before agents and Cincinnati police detained him.
When arrested, DeFoor demanded to be called “Julia,” FBI sources said, according to Fox News.
Causing more than $1,000 in damage to U.S. property and engaging in physical violence in a restricted area each carries up to 10 years in prison. Assaulting, resisting, or impeding federal officers is punishable by up to 20 years.
DeFoor also faces state misdemeanor counts of obstructing official business, criminal damaging or endangering, and criminal trespass, as well as a felony vandalism charge. A judge set his bond at $11,000 for the non-federal offenses during a Tuesday court appearance, with a federal hearing scheduled later that day.
Defense attorney Paul Laufman told the court the incident “had nothing to do with the specifics of the vice president” and was unrelated to politics.
“I just don’t think there’s anything political going on. This is purely a mental health issue,” Laufman said, per Fox News, noting that DeFoor writes “peaceful” poetry.
Court records show DeFoor’s prior cases often involved mental competency findings.
In April 2023, he was charged with trespassing at the University of Cincinnati Health Psychiatric Emergency Services for refusing to leave, but the case was dismissed after he was ruled incompetent to stand trial.
In 2024, DeFoor faced two vandalism counts for breaking windows at a Hyde Park business; the matter went to a mental health docket with treatment ordered instead of conviction, which remains ongoing.
In October 2024, a Hamilton County court granted his mother legal guardianship, deeming him incompetent due to mental illness.
No one was inside the residence at the time, as Vance and his family were in Washington, D.C., having left Ohio on Sunday.