LA Mayor Suffers Break-In at Her Home, Suspect Arrested
A man was arrested after he allegedly broke into the residence of Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass while she and her family were home on Sunday.
No one was injured, and police arrived at the scene quickly, KTLA-TV reported.
According to the outlet, the Los Angeles Police Department said Bass and her family were inside the Getty House — the designated mayoral residence for the city — when a man smashed a back window and forced his way in.
Mayor Bass and her family were in the Hancock Park home during the break-in, but no one was hurt during the incident.https://t.co/GRcRE0hD4C
— KTLA (@KTLA) April 22, 2024
The LAPD identified the suspect as 29-year-old Ephraim Matthew Hunter of Los Angeles.
No motive for the break-in was provided as of Monday, but it occurred around 6:40 a.m., police said.
It is not believed the man who broke in encountered Bass or her family during the time he was in the home.
The LAPD offered no additional details about the crime, other than to say the suspect was taken into custody and charged with burglary.
Meanwhile, the mayor’s office issued a one-sentence statement in which it thanked the police department on behalf of Bass.
“The Mayor is grateful to LAPD for responding and arresting the suspect,” it said.
The Getty House is in the Windsor Square neighborhood just a few miles south of Hollywood and west of downtown.
Named for George Getty II, the son of tycoon J. Paul Getty, the building was gifted to the city in 1975.
“The English Tudor style house was built in 1921 by Swedish immigrants Leta and Paul Paulson who purchased an acre of land along the nearby, ever-growing Wilshire Boulevard, in Windsor Square,” the Getty House Foundation says on the website for the home.
“It was built by the same architects who designed the Egyptian and Chinese Theatres on Hollywood Boulevard.”
Built in 1921, the home is viewed by those in the neighborhood as safe and secure and has been available as the primary residence of the city’s mayors for five decades.
According to KTLA, the house is surrounded by a gate, and the property is outfitted with security cameras.
Bass moved into the home in January 2023 after she defeated Rick Caruso in the 2022 Los Angeles mayoral election.
The former congresswoman bolstered the LAPD’s budget in August, Politico noted.
In a break with many people in her party, Bass said during a 2021 interview with The Washington Post that “Defund the Police” was “probably one of the worst slogans ever.”
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