By Alanna Durkin Richer and Kathy McCormack
Associated Press
CINCINNATTI, Ohio — A man who broke windows at Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio home and caused other property damage was detained early Monday, the U.S. Secret Service said.
The man was detained shortly after midnight by Secret Service agents assigned to Vance’s home, east of downtown Cincinnati, agency spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. The vice president and his family were not at home, having returned to Washington on Sunday after a weekend there, his office said.
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The Secret Service heard a loud noise at the house around midnight and found a person who had broken a window with a hammer and was trying to get in, according to two law enforcement officials who were not publicly authorized to discuss the investigation into what happened and spoke on the condition of anonymity. The man had also vandalized a Secret Service vehicle on his way up the home’s driveway, one of the officials said.
A law enforcement official identified the suspect as William Defoor, 26, who public records list as living in Cincinnati. Calls to the listings for possible relatives and an attorney who previously represented Defoor were not immediately returned.
Defoor is set to be arraigned Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of vandalism, criminal trespass, criminal damaging and obstruction of official business, court records show.
Vance expressed gratitude to the Secret Service and Cincinnati police for responding quickly to the incident in a post on the social platform X.
“I appreciate everyone’s well wishes about the attack at our home,” Vance tweeted. “As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows.”
Court records show that Defoor faced an earlier charge of vandalism in 2024 and agreed to treatment under the county’s Mental Health Court system.
The Secret Service is coordinating with the Cincinnati Police Department and the U.S. attorney’s office as charging decisions are reviewed, Guglielmi said.
The Vance home is located in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, on hills overlooking the city. Throughout Vance’s vice presidency, protesters have often gathered outside the home — clashing at one point last spring with Vance himself.
Vance, a Republican, was a U.S. senator representing Ohio before becoming vice president. He moved to Cincinnati after a stint in Silicon Valley following law school, and his half brother ran unsuccessfully for mayor there last year. Vance was raised in nearby Middletown, which figured heavily in his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
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This story has been updated to correct the suspect’s listed residency to Cincinnati, not Kentucky.
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Associated Press writers Mike Balsamo, Sarah Brumfield and Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.
