The person who allegedly set hearth to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence on the primary evening of Passover deliberate to beat him with a hammer, authorities stated in courtroom paperwork launched Monday.
Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was arrested and charged with tried murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, aggravated assault and different offenses, authorities stated.
Balmer informed police he had deliberate to beat the governor with a small sledgehammer after strolling an hour from his dwelling to the residence with that in thoughts, the courtroom paperwork revealed.
Intensive hearth harm to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence is seen throughout a press convention on Sunday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Photos)
Balmer allegedly scaled an iron safety fence practically 7 ft excessive and dodged officers who seen the breach. He then broke into the residence and set it on hearth with Molotov cocktails original out of gasoline-filled beer bottles in an roughly one-minute-long, meticulously deliberate assault, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens stated.
The 51-year-old governor and his household — his spouse, 4 youngsters and two canines — had celebrated Passover with members of Harrisburg’s Jewish neighborhood on Saturday evening within the very room the place the fireplace would get away hours later. He, his household and family members who had been staying with them had been drowsing when troopers pounded on their doorways to wake and evacuate them at about 2 a.m. No person was injured.
Photographs confirmed the trashed room that always holds artwork shows and enormous gatherings was a multitude of torched furnishings, blown-out and charred home windows, damaged glass, a burnt piano and different harm.
The governor decried the uptick in violence.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks throughout a press convention exterior of the Governor’s Mansion after a portion of the property was broken in an arson hearth on Sunday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. (Matthew Hatcher/Getty Photos)
Shapiro stated he was extra decided than ever to serve the individuals of his state and added a little bit of historic context.
“When we were in the state dining room last night, we told the story of Passover,” Shapiro stated of the vacation celebrating the exodus of the Jews to freedom from slavery in Egypt. “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.”
Initially Revealed: April 14, 2025 at 9:54 AM EDT
