The hammer attack on the home of Vice President JD Vance in Cincinnati lasted only minutes, but the transgender suspect accused of carrying it out has become the real focus of national attention — not for the broken windows, but for a disturbing personal history marked by wealth, repeated identity changes and escalating mental-health crises.
Cincinnati police say 26-year-old William D. DeFoor was arrested just after midnight after allegedly smashing multiple windows at the Ohio home of JD Vance with a hammer and damaging a Secret Service vehicle parked nearby. No one was injured, and Vice President Vance was not at home at the time. But the suspect’s background is now raising serious questions about how years of red flags failed to stop his apparent downward spiral.
William DeFoor was raised in a property valued at approximately $1.3 million in one of Cincinnati’s most affluent neighborhoods, alongside two younger siblings, Libby and Alex. He is the child of two medical professionals — a Harvard educated surgeon father, William DeFoor Sr., and a pediatrician mother, Catherine DeFoor. Both parents are registered Democrats and well-established within Cincinnati’s professional elite.
Federal Election Commission records show that William DeFoor’s father contributed more than $11,600 to Kamala Harris’s 2024 presidential campaign and the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue. He also previously donated to Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign.
William DeFoor, 26, allegedly used a hammer to break four exterior windows and damage a vehicle at Vance’s East Walnut Hills home while the family was away in Washington, D.C. Agents detained him around 12:15 a.m. and handed him to Cincinnati police; no one was hurt. pic.twitter.com/LlcVjKzSkF
— Your Cincinnati (@YourCincinnati) January 5, 2026
Despite his privileged upbringing, William DeFoor’s life has taken a markedly unstable path. The transgender hammer attack suspect attended The Summit Country Day School, an exclusive Catholic institution charging roughly $27,000 per year in tuition. According to his Facebook profile, DeFoor graduated from high school in 2018 and later enrolled at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. He does not appear to have completed the program and eventually left the school.
Last year, William DeFoor enrolled at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, a move that followed a series of documented struggles with mental health and the legal system. Before recently adopting the name “Julia” online, DeFoor had already distanced himself from his given name, going by “Davis” for a period of time.
In recent months, social media accounts linked to him show another shift, with William DeFoor presenting as transgender and using the name Julia, though authorities have not confirmed any legal name or gender change. At the same time, his interactions with law enforcement intensified.
In 2023, William DeFoor was charged with trespassing at a psychiatric hospital, a case that ended when a judge ruled him incompetent to stand trial. In 2024, he pleaded guilty to two counts of vandalism after smashing windows at a local business and was ordered into court-mandated mental-health treatment instead of serving jail time.
🚨BREAKING: William DeFoor, who goes by “JULIA”, was just ARRESTED by the Secret Service after allegedly vandalizing JD Vance’s Ohio home.
Transgenderism is a mental illness.
The Left’s violence must be stopped.
Follow: @BoLoudon
pic.twitter.com/7VFQXS5KZ7— Bo Loudon (@BoLoudon) January 5, 2026
Investigators say there is no evidence William DeFoor had prior contact with JD Vance or his family, and no political manifesto or statement has been uncovered. Still, the combination of repeated identity changes, untreated mental illness and escalating property destruction has ignited a broader debate over accountability and intervention.
Cincinnati neighbors of JD Vance reported hearing shouting and loud banging before glass shattered across the front of the residence. Secret Service agents responded quickly, arresting William DeFoor without further violence.
JD Vance later described the suspect as “a crazy person” and thanked law enforcement for their swift response, while urging the media to protect his children from the consequences of public life.
Prosecutors are now considering additional charges against the transgender suspect, including potential federal offenses tied to attacking the residence of a protected official — charges that could carry significant prison time.
What remains unresolved in the JD Vance hammer attack is how a young man raised in extraordinary comfort, educated at elite institutions and supported by wealth and political influence slipped through the cracks repeatedly — until his instability erupted onto the national stage, hammer in hand, outside the vice president’s home.
