Hamilton County Justice Center
(Cincinnati, Ohio) – The suspect accused of attacking Vice President JD Vance’s Ohio residence is not a faceless drifter or unknown criminal – but the product of elite privilege, political radicalism, and a system that repeatedly chose leniency over accountability.
Police arrested William ‘Julia’ DeFoor, 26, early Monday after his allegedly attempted to break into Vance’s Cincinnati-area home, shattering multiple windows with a hammer shortly after midnight. Authorities say the attack appeared deliberate and targeted. The vice president and his family were not present at the time, having relocated to Washington, D.C., following the inauguration.
What has since emerged is a portrait familiar to many conservatives: a wealthy, politically connected family, a troubled adult child, and years of institutional failure that allowed a dangerous individual to remain on the streets.
DeFoor – who has reportedly begun using the name “Julia” online in recent weeks – was booked by police under his legal name and listed as male. His recent social media presence reflects confusion and instability rather than political activism, but critics argue the broader environment that normalized such behavior cannot be ignored.
The suspect’s father, William DeFoor Jr., is a Harvard-educated pediatric urologist and longtime academic at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. The family resides in Hyde Park, one of Cincinnati’s wealthiest neighborhoods, in a home valued at more than $1 million.
Federal election records show DeFoor’s family are reliable Democratic donor, contributing thousands of dollars to Kamala Harris’s 2024 campaign, as well as earlier donations to Joe Biden. He has also publicly supported gun control measures, including calls for a federal assault weapons ban following the Uvalde school shooting.
Critics say the irony is impossible to miss: while elite Democrats lecture working Americans about “threats to democracy,” their own children increasingly appear in police blotters – shielded for years by courts more concerned with therapy than consequences.
Court records reveal DeFoor has an extensive history of mental health interventions and criminal behavior. In 2024, he was charged with vandalizing a local business – but avoided traditional punishment after a judge ordered mandatory mental health treatment instead of jail time. That program remains ongoing.
In another incident, DeFoor was arrested for trespassing inside a psychiatric and emergency services facility. Though initially held on bond, the case was later dismissed after he was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Despite repeated encounters with law enforcement and warning signs of escalation, DeFoor remained free – until the alleged attack on the sitting vice president’s home.
He now faces multiple charges, including criminal trespass, vandalism, obstructing official business, and criminal damaging. His first court appearance is scheduled for Tuesday.
For many on the right, the case raises uncomfortable but unavoidable questions: How many warnings does the system need before it protects victims instead of perpetrators? Why are political elites insulated from the policies they promote? And how close did this come to becoming a national tragedy?
As violent rhetoric against conservatives intensifies and law enforcement increasingly looks the other way, critics argue the DeFoor case is less an anomaly than a symptom – of cultural decay, political indulgence, and a justice system that too often refuses to draw hard lines.
This time, the target was the vice president of the United States. Next time, it could be anyone…
