Suspect in arson at home of US Jewish governor planned to beat him with a hammer
Cody Balmer ‘admitted to harboring hatred’ towards Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, is being treated at hospital following an unrelated medical event
HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania — A man who US authorities say scaled an iron security fence early Sunday morning, eluded police, and broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion where he set a fire told police he had planned to beat Governor Josh Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he found him, according to court documents.
Cody Balmer had walked an hour from his home to the governor’s residence, and during a police interview, “Balmer admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro,” according to a police affidavit, but it did not explain why. Balmer faces charges including attempted homicide, terrorism, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault, authorities said.
State police said on Monday that Balmer is in police custody at a hospital, where he is being treated after a medical event that is “not connected to this incident or his arrest.”
The fire caused significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family, and guests to evacuate the building early Sunday.
Shapiro said he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family had celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover at the residence on Saturday and were awakened by state troopers pounding on their doors at about 2 a.m. Sunday.
They fled and firefighters extinguished the fire, officials said. No one was injured.
At a Sunday evening news conference in front of the badly damaged south wing of the governor’s residence, Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris identified the man in custody as Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg.
Authorities said Balmer was transported to Dauphin County Prison, but they did not say whether he has a lawyer. Calls to people believed to be relatives went unanswered or unreturned Sunday. One recent listed residence in Harrisburg was condemned in 2022.
Shapiro says he is unbowed
Paris emphasized that the investigation is continuing. Authorities did not disclose the man’s motive, but an emotional Shapiro, who is viewed as a potential White House contender for the Democratic Party in 2028, said he is unbowed.
Shapiro said that if Balmer was trying to stop him from doing his job, then he would work harder, and he added that Balmer would not stop him from observing his faith.
“When we were in the state dining room last night, we told the story of Passover” and the exodus of the Jews from slavery in Egypt to freedom, Shapiro said. “I refuse to be trapped by the bondage that someone attempts to put on me by attacking us as they did here last night. I refuse to let anyone who had evil intentions like that stop me from doing the work that I love.”
Police say suspect set fire with Molotov cocktails
Authorities said the suspect hopped over a nearly 7-foot-high (2.1-meter-high) iron security fence surrounding the property, eluded officers who became aware of the breach, and forcibly entered the residence before setting it on fire. He used beer bottles filled with gasoline to make the Molotov cocktails, documents say,
Lt. Col. George Bivens said Balmer appeared to have planned the attack carefully. He was inside the residence for about a minute before he escaped, Bivens said.
Bivens said Balmer was later arrested in the area.
Balmer has faced criminal charges over the past decade including simple assault, theft, and forgery, according to online criminal court records.
‘We have to be better than this,’ Shapiro says
Shapiro said the fire was set in the very room where he and his family celebrated Passover with a Seder with members of Harrisburg’s Jewish community on Saturday night.
“We don’t know the person’s specific motive yet,” Shapiro told the news conference. “But we do know a few truths. First: This type of violence is not okay. This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society. And I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other, directed at one particular party or another or one particular person or another. It is not okay, and it has to stop. We have to be better than this.”
The fire badly damaged the inside of the large room that is often used for entertaining crowds and art displays. Large west- and south-facing windows were completely missing their glass panes, shattered glass littered the pathways and doors stood ajar amid signs of charring. Window panes and brick around doors and windows were blackened and charred.
Inside, a charred piano, tables, walls, metal buffet serving dishes and more could be seen through broken windows and fire-blackened doors.
Governor is rising Democratic star, outspoken about Jewish faith
Shapiro, 51, is the first-term governor of the fifth-most populous US state, a presidential battleground that has helped make him a rising star in the Democratic Party.
He was a finalist for the vice presidential slot on the Democratic ticket last year. After Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz instead, questions arose about whether Shapiro had been passed over because of antisemitism or his stance on the Israel-Hamas war, which had caused some critics to call him “Genocide Josh.” But he said he believed antisemitism played no role in Harris’s decision.
Shapiro used his first ad in his campaign for governor in 2022 to tell family stories and describe his commitment to making “it home Friday night for Sabbath dinner,” complete with footage of him and his children at the table.
“Family and faith ground me,” he said.
In stump speeches and his election-night victory speech, Shapiro regularly quoted an ancient rabbinic maxim: “No one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.”
Two lawmakers who chair the Jewish caucus in the Pennsylvania state legislature said on Sunday they were awaiting more details from law enforcement, but “can’t ignore the fear and anxiety reverberating through Jewish communities,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
“What we know is deeply troubling: the state police believe it was arson, and that it took place on the first night of Passover — one of the most sacred and widely observed nights in Jewish tradition,” State Senator Judy Schwank and Rep. Dan Frankel said in a joint statement.
The Times of Israel Community.