Burglary reported at residence of mayor

The Getty House in Los Angeles, the official residence of Mayor Karen Bass, was broken into early Sunday, the Los Angeles Police Department said. Police took the intruder into custody, officials said.

Details on the breakin were scant, but the police said on social media that the intruder had entered the Getty House after smashing a window around 6:40 a.m. while Bass and her family were inside.

Bass' office said in a statement that she and her family were safe and had not sustained any injuries.

“The mayor is grateful to LAPD for responding and arresting the suspect,” Bass' office said.

Ephraim Matthew Hunter, 29, was taken into custody at the property without incident, Los Angeles police said Monday. Hunter, who lives in Los Angeles, has been charged with burglary.

The Getty House is in Windsor Square, a neighborhood in central Los Angeles. The city, with a population of about 4 million, was struggling with a surge in homelessness and violent crime when Bass took office in December 2022, two years into the pandemic.

But data show that rates of violent crime have gone down in the city more recently. According to the Los Angeles Police's report on crime in 2023, homicides went down that year by 17% from the year before.

There were slight upticks in some nonviolent crimes, however. Property crimes increased by about 3.5%, and motor vehicle thefts went up by 2% compared with the previous year, the report said.

In her State of the City Address this month, Bass hailed the city's progress in lowering crime rates and homelessness.

“Over the last year, we have done big things together,” Bass said. “Thousands more unhoused Angelenos came inside and homicide and violent crime came down last year.”

In September 2022, before she took office as mayor, Bass' personal home in the city's Baldwin Vista neighborhood was burglarized. Two thieves stole two handguns at the time.

In recent years, several politicians have been targeted in break-ins and swatting attempts.

One high-profile case involved Nancy Pelosi's home in San Francisco in October 2022, when she was speaker of the House. Pelosi was not there at the time, but her husband, Paul Pelosi, was assaulted by an intruder with a hammer. Paul Pelosi sustained severe injuries, including a skull fracture.

And last December, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., said that she was swatted, or subjected to a hoax call, Christmas Day. It was not the first time she had been a target of swatting, she said. “This is like the 8th time,” she wrote on social media after the incident.