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 County 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.”

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