Career criminal Ephraim Hunter who broke into Getty Mansion while L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was inside as his mother reveals he was ‘having a mental breakdown’ and ‘thought he’d be safe inside’

The man who broke into the home of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass over the weekend suffered a mental breakdown while on drugs and believed he was being threatened and chased before stumbling upon her home, his family claims.

Ephraim Matthew Hunter, 29, was arrested Sunday morning after breaking into the famed Getty House on Irving Boulevard, the official residence of LA’s mayor.

Hunter’s mother, Josephine Duah, told DailyMail.com on Monday that she spoke with her son, who remains in an LA jail on a $100,000 bond, according to LA County Sheriff’s Department jail records.

“My son is going crazy,” Duah said through tears. “He thought people were chasing him and he randomly ran into that house. He wasn’t trying to break into the mayor’s house.

“Thank God it wasn’t someone who would have pulled a gun and shot him because he was just trying to run from someone he thought was trying to get him.

‘He didn’t know where he was or what he was doing. The truth is he needs mental help.”

LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced Tuesday afternoon that charges have been filed against Hunter, including first-degree residential burglary with a person present and one count of vandalism causing $400 or more in damage.

The charges against Hunter also include an allegation of a previous attack from Massachusetts.

Bass, her daughter and son-in-law were present in the home during the Sunday burglary, but were unharmed.

Gascón added that investigators believe Hunter targeted Bass and knew it was her home.

Hunter broke a glass window around 6:40 a.m. Sunday while the mayor and her family were in the house, setting off an alarm that alerted police, LAPD spokesman Jeff Lee told DailyMail.com.

“Mayor Bass and her family were not injured and are safe,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “The mayor is grateful to the LAPD for its response and arrest of the suspect.”

Hunter was previously charged with kidnapping and attempted murder in Massachusetts in 2015, according to court records obtained by DailyMail.com.

He was sentenced to five to seven years in prison following a conviction for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, kidnapping, possession of heroin and armed robbery on March 2, 2015.

Hunter spent six years in prison and was released on parole in June 2021, according to court records.

His family tried to offer him support and even started a fundraiser to help Hunter get back on his feet once he got out of prison.

“The reason most people who come out of prison return is due to a lack of support,” Hunter’s brother Joshua wrote in a GoFundMe post. ‘There is nothing that can get them back into society. Some struggle to find a job, because of a record, and have nowhere to turn but the streets.

“This is what we don’t want to see for Ephraim. With help we can give him the tools to give him a small start to better himself.’

The family was able to raise $4,846 for Hunter.

Hunter’s mother said he was having problems with drugs in Massachusetts and hanging out with “the wrong people” when he was arrested and charged in 2015.

Old posts from his Instagram account showed a younger Hunter smoking marijuana and wads of cash along with some drugs. One post from 2012 showed Hunter with an ankle monitor attached to his leg.

Duah said she thought moving to California would be a fresh start for her troubled son.

“He did very well in California,” she told DailyMail.com. ‘He worked so much that we told him you can’t work seven days a week.

“He made really good money, so I know he didn’t have to rob or take anything. He just took that medicine and put him where he thought he was going crazy.”

Duah said her son does not live near Bass’ home and told her he did not know whose house he had entered.

“He had a problem with drugs before, but he went to California and was doing fine until it started happening again,” Duah said through tears. “The problem is that there are a lot of medications available in California.

“Whatever that drug is, he was in a drug-induced state that made him afraid of everything. I want people to understand that he wasn’t trying to break in. He feared for his life.’

Duah said her son was so mentally unstable that he thought she was outside the mayor’s house and shouting his name.

“He thought they were holding me and telling him to go outside, but of course I wasn’t there,” said Duah, who lives in Massachusetts. ‘He was everywhere and didn’t make any sense.

“He needs help and that’s the only reason I’m talking. I’m his mother and I know he needs help. He had only been taking the drugs for a few weeks and his mental health deteriorated rapidly. I really don’t understand why he did that, because he did a great job. He just took that medicine and took him to the place where he thought he was going crazy.”

Bass served as a Democratic congresswoman from 2011 until her election as the city’s 43rd mayor in 2022.

The former state Assembly leader is the first woman and second Black person to hold the position, following former Mayor Tom Bradley, who held the position from 1973 to 1993.

Mayor Bass has helped implement progressive policies across the city, including cashless bail.

The no-bail policy was first implemented in Los Angeles during the 2020 COVID pandemic shutdown to alleviate overcrowded city and county jails.

Suspects arrested for non-violent crimes were immediately released without having to post bail before their arraignment.

California law allows judges to set bail based on the suspect’s criminal record and the severity of the crime.

The policy was reinstated in May 2023 after Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lawrence Riff ruled in favor of a group of activists who sued the county, claiming they had suffered under the bail system.

Critics say the abolition of bail crimes is an invitation for those to continue blatantly breaking the law.

Sunday’s incident marks the second time in three years that Bass has been the victim of a burglary.

In 2022, while she was running for office, two men stole a pair of handguns from her home in Baldwin Vista.

They only took the two guns and left behind cash and electronics.

Patricio Munoz and Juan Espinoza pleaded no contest last year to burglary and theft of a firearm. Both received prison sentences.