(The Center Square) – Following a guilty plea from arsonist Cody Balmer for the April firebombing of his official residence in Harrisburg, Gov. Josh Shapiro and First Lady Lori Shapiro held a press conference at the capitol, closing one chapter of a tumultuous year.
Shapiro expressed satisfaction with the plea and gratitude toward Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo and the state’s law enforcement teams who ensured that justice was served.
In addition to terrorism and several other charges, Balmer pled guilty to attempted murder, a count Shapiro noted was especially difficult to hear.
“It’s hard for me to stand before you today and utter the words attempted murder when it’s your own life, to know that someone tried to kill me,” said Shapiro in an emotional speech. “It’s especially hard to know that he tried to burn our family to death while we slept.”
Chilling footage of the attack was released by the prosecutor’s office showing Balmer both outside and inside the residence, moving calmly and with determination as he set rooms ablaze with Molotov cocktails made out of beer bottles and gasoline. He left the premises as easily as he came, never encountering Pennsylvania State Police or other security forces.
Shapiro says that will not be the case again, a fact evidenced by the expansive security detail now seen around the governor and his family in public spaces.
“Sadly, as you know, our family is not the only ones to experience political violence, violence that has been used to try and silence people, intimidate people,” said Shapiro. “I think it’s important that in this time of rising political violence that none of us grow numb to it or accept this as the normal course of doing business for elected officials.”
The governor’s words come after an election season that saw two attempts on President Donald Trump’s life and the assassination of Democratic Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman, her husband and dog and the shooting of her senate colleague John Hoffman and his wife. Most recently, conservative influencer Charlie Kirk was murdered while speaking at a college in Utah.
The nation has also seen a wave of violence related to the Israel-Hamas war, an issue that Cody Balmer cited as motivation for his attack on Shapiro and his family. In addition to high profile murders in Denver and Washington D.C., advocacy groups have reported huge upticks in both antisemitism and anti-Arab violence in the U.S. since the conflict began.
Balmer, who family said was suffering from uncontrolled mental illness, denied that the governor’s faith and the Passover holiday were factors in his decision to attack.
“He can be Jewish, Muslim, or a purple people eater for all I care and as long as he leaves me and mine alone,” Balmer wrote in a letter to the Associated Press.
For his part, Shapiro has avoided any discussion of Balmer’s motive. He has, however, spoken often of the role his Jewish faith has taken in providing comfort and reassurance as his family copes with the trauma of the attack. At the same time, he has repeatedly thanked people all over the world of all different faiths who have reached out to them or prayed for his family.
The governor was also firm that though he was shaken by the threat of violence made real that night in April, he would remain undeterred. He spoke of a sense of guilt for pursuing a career that endangered his children, balancing it with hope that others would not shy away from public service because of acts like this. In fact, Shapiro is an early frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
“We have seen so much light in the midst of this darkness,” said Shapiro. “I want you to know we’re not deterred in our desire to serve others, in part because of our faith and how strongly we lean on it and in part because of the examples that others have set for us. We remain focused and committed to doing our work on behalf of the good people of Pennsylvania, and nothing and no one will stop us from doing that.”
