Early Monday morning, the United States Secret Service announced that they had arrested one suspect in an apparent break-in attempt at the Cincinnati home of Vice President JD Vance.
Thankfully, neither Vance nor his family was home at the time. There were no reported injuries.
WATCH: Man arrested after incident at Vice President JD Vance’s home in Ohio; windows damaged, VP was not inside pic.twitter.com/OOsbBv2KYe
— Rapid Report (@RapidReport2025) January 5, 2026
In addition to smashing windows, the suspect allegedly also vandalized a Secret Service vehicle on his way to the residence.
One person arrested after windows broken at JD Vance Cincinnati home https://t.co/0I6INxcThD pic.twitter.com/WedZohyKhy
— New York Post (@nypost) January 5, 2026
The New York Post provided some additional details about what we know so far.
Secret Service spokesman Anthony Guglielmi confirmed the suspect was detained by members of the protective agency and taken into custody by local cops on suspicon of property damage.
'The residence was unoccupied at the time of the incident, and the Vice President and his family were not in Ohio,' said Guglielmi.
The Associated Press, citing two law enforcement officials, reported that Secret Service agents heard a loud noise at the home around midnight and found the suspect had broken a window with a hammer and was trying to get into the house.
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The US Attorney's Office in Cincinnati has not yet announced what charges the suspect may face, but they are reviewing the details.
🚨 BREAKING: A suspect has been ARRESTED after windows were smashed at JD Vance’s Ohio home
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 5, 2026
Thankfully, the family was NOT there. 🙏🏻
The left is freaking evil. They won’t stop, ever.
pic.twitter.com/8vVRWEelqc
We don't have any confirmed reports about the identity of the suspect, although a name and photos are already circulating on X.
Accordingly, while it is tempting to ascribe a motivation to the attempted home invasion, we will wait for additional details from law enforcement.
However, just the fact that an intruder was able to approach the Vice President's Cincinnati residence is scary enough.
If someone can throw a rock into the vice president's residence, they can throw a grenade into his residence.
— Parker Shannon (@PShannon30308) January 5, 2026
I imagine there are some very serious meetings happening on the 7th floor of the Secret Service headquarters as you read this.
We sure hope so.
The incident is reminiscent of the attempted break-in (and attempted murder) at the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, not to mention multiple attempts on the life of President Trump.
Vance himself has had to deal with protesters outside his home before, who not only accosted him, but also his three-year-old daughter.
Today while walking my 3 year old daughter a group of “Slava Ukraini” protesters followed us around and shouted as my daughter grew increasingly anxious and scared.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) March 8, 2025
I decided to speak with the protesters in the hopes that I could trade a few minutes of conversation for them…
... leaving my toddler alone. (Nearly all of them agreed.)
It was a mostly respectful conversation, but if you’re chasing a 3-year-old as part of a political protest, you’re a s*** person.
Regardless of this suspect's motivation, we are pretty sure that we can apply that adjective to him at this time.
Vance posted a statement about the attempted break-in on X.
I appreciate everyone's well wishes about the attack at our home. As far as I can tell, a crazy person tried to break in by hammering the windows. I'm grateful to the secret service and the Cincinnati police for responding quickly.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) January 5, 2026
We weren't even home as we had returned…
... already to DC.
One request to the media: we try to protect our kids as much as possible from the realities of this life of public service. In that light, I am skeptical of the news value of plastering images of our home with holes in the windows.
Twitchy will follow up on this story as more details become available.
**** UPDATE ****
While many X accounts were reporting the name and posting the picture of the suspect in custody this morning, we have waited for further confirmation.
However, Fox 19 News in Cincinnati has now confirmed that the suspect is 26-year-old William DeFoor.
UPDATE: William DeFoor, 26, charged after trying to break into Vice President JD Vance's Ohio home. He was using a hammer to break the windows - WXIX pic.twitter.com/7ZMgoBE3Fz
— BNO News (@BNONews) January 5, 2026
Charges are still pending against DeFoor.
Twitchy will continue to update this story as it develops.
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