(The Center Square) – While motive remains unclear, the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office has released the criminal complaint and affidavit charging Cody Balmer of Harrisburg, 38, with setting fire to the Governor’s Residence in the early hours of Sunday morning.
The report says that Balmer knew that it was possible the governor and his family were home and knew that he was endangering lives. Balmer said that if he had encountered the governor himself during the course of the attack, he would have “beaten him with his hammer.”
Balmer has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism, and related offenses. In the charge of terrorism, it’s noted that Balmer committed a “violent offense intending to affect the conduct of a government,” though to what end remains to be seen. The report says that Balmer admitted to “harboring hatred” for Shapiro.
Shapiro, his wife, children, extended family, and two dogs were all in the residence at the time of the fire, having earlier celebrated the Passover seder. They were awoken by state police and safely evacuated.
Pennsylvania State Police announced Monday that Balmer is being hospitalized for a medical issue unrelated to the incident or his arrest.
According to the affidavit, Balmer confessed to his ex-partner, asking her to report his crime before turning himself in to law enforcement. He then told police where to locate evidence including the jacket he wore, a gas can, and the hammer he used to enter the residence.
The report details a rapid series of events during which Balmer allegedly climbed the fence into the grounds. Surveillance showed the defendant breaking a window with a hammer and throwing a molotov cocktail made with gasoline and a Heineken bottle into the residence. He then broke another window, through which he entered and lit two more molotov cocktails before exiting through a fire door and back over the fence.
Police matched the Snap-On jacket he led them to, which they said had distinctive shoulder patches, to the jacket worn by the assailant in surveillance footage. The police also found discarded gloves, one yellow and one orange, matching the footage and smelling of gasoline, along the defendant’s path.
Balmer’s social media presence reveals a mix of family images and political statements without a clear ideological perspective. Additionally, a residence on Canby Street in Penbrook was seized from a Cody Balmer and sold by the Sheriff of Dauphin County in May of last year.
Shapiro addressed both political divisions and the possibility that the act could have been an antisemitic hate crime in a press conference Sunday, saying, “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 another.”
The timing of the incident occurring on Passover has created unease throughout the Jewish community. Many have expressed concern that the recent elevation of far-right figures, including some who explicitly express disdain for the Jewish people, has played a role. For others, opposition to Israel’s actions in Gaza has also led to anti-Jewish sentiment.
The governor, who has been floated as a potential presidential candidate for 2028, has been the recipient of all manner of verbal political and personal attacks. While his tenure as state attorney general saw big accomplishments including successful prosecution of the Catholic Church for child sex abuse, his time as governor with a divided legislature has proven sometimes rocky. He has a difficult relationship with Senate Republicans, and his face dots conservative billboards across Pennsylvania highways criticizing his work in the office.
Shapiro was considered for the position of Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election. His stance on Israel and earlier writing on the topic were widely considered to be factors that would alienate members of the Democratic base who stand in opposition to the war. He has also been the subject of much speculation around the alleged suicide of Ellen Greenberg.
Differences aside, Shapiro’s critics and political opponents have disavowed the use of violence and offered their support and encouragement in the wake of the fire.
