Suspect in Pennsylvania governor's mansion fire harbored hatred for Shapiro

By John Shiffman and Andrew Hay

April 14 (Reuters) - The suspect in a weekend arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's official residence said he "harbored hatred" against the Democrat and would have beaten him with a hammer if he had encountered the governor inside the mansion.

After turning himself in to the state police, the 38-year-old suspect, Cody Balmer, said he used homemade Molotov cocktails to set the mansion on fire on Sunday.

The attack took place while the governor and his family were asleep at the residence in the state capital of Harrisburg, according to a summary of a police interview with Shapiro filed in court.

It was the latest episode of political violence directed at a U.S. elected official and bore similarities to the October 2022 home invasion of the San Francisco residence of Nancy Pelosi, then the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. In that incident, a man beat her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer. The attacker had also used a hammer to break into the Pelosi house.

Balmer has been charged with attempted murder, arson, burglary and terrorism intended to coerce "the conduct of a government," among other felonies.

Shapiro, who is Jewish, said his family held a seder on Saturday to celebrate the first night of Passover, a major Jewish holiday, with his family and guests in the dining room of the mansion.

A state trooper banged on a door of the residence at around 2 a.m. on Sunday morning to wake Shapiro and rush him and his family and pets to safety.

Balmer told troopers he had filled beer bottles with gasoline from a lawnmower before walking about an hour to reach the governor's mansion, according to the police summary.

Once he arrived, he scaled a fence, smashed the window of the mansion's piano room with a hammer and threw a Molotov cocktail inside, police said, citing video from security cameras. He then smashed his way inside and ignited the dining room before fleeing, according to the police account.

Photographs taken after the fires were extinguished, distributed by the state government, showed a grand room entirely blackened and littered with debris, a charred chandelier, a grand piano blistered by flames and stuffing spilling out of sooty upholstered furniture.

Balmer, who describes himself as a certified master mechanic on his Facebook page, remained in custody on Monday. It was not clear whether he had a lawyer.

The suspect made his first court appearance on Monday. He arrived at the Dauphin County Prison courthouse in a state police cruiser wearing a light brown pullover and gray trousers, his hands shackled in front of him. Balmer stuck his tongue out as he was escorted past members of the media and brought into the courthouse, where cameras were not allowed.

A judge denied him bail and set a preliminary hearing for April 23.

'SHOCKING ATTACK'

In a March 2021 Facebook post, Balmer expressed his displeasure with high gasoline prices with a picture of himself and the caption, "Biden owes me 2 Grand."

In June 2022, he posted a picture of an embroidery that appeared to depict a Molotov cocktail – a green bottle with flames shooting from it and the words: "Be the light you want to see in the world."

In January 2023, Balmer was charged with three counts of assault for allegedly striking his stepsons, 10 and 13, and his wife, whom he also bit during an altercation, according to a Penbrook Borough Police Department report. He pleaded not guilty in that case. A police officer who responded to the incident wrote that Balmer told him he had "taken a bottle full of pills in an attempt to kill himself."

Pennsylvania was also the scene of last year's attempt to assassinate Donald Trump during his successful campaign for the presidency. In July, a man used a rifle to shoot at the then-Republican candidate, grazing his ear, during a rally in Butler, about 200 miles (322 km) west of Harrisburg.

"The shocking attack on Governor Shapiro and his family is inexcusable, and such evil cannot be tolerated. Thankfully, they are unharmed," House Speaker Mike Johnson posted on the X social media platform. "The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Shapiro, seen as a potential candidate for his party's presidential nomination in 2028, said at a press conference on Sunday that FBI Director Kash Patel had spoken to him and promised "all the resources of the federal government" in investigating the attack.

The residence was set on fire hours after Shapiro posted a picture of his family's seder table, which he described as a celebration of going "from slavery into freedom."

"I refuse to be trapped by the bondage that someone attempts to put on me by attacking us as they did here last night," he said on Sunday.

When asked whether the attack could have been motivated by antisemitism, Shapiro said he would defer to the findings from federal authorities and Pennsylvania law enforcement.

Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo said he believed Balmer acted alone.

“We are investigating motive and whether antisemitism played a role," Chardo said in an email. "We have no indication of the involvement of others.”