Who is Cody Balmer, Harrisburg man arrested for starting a fire at Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s residence?

A man who authorities said scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and broke into the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion where he set a fire, had planned to beat Governor Josh Shapiro with a hammer if he found him, according to court documents released Monday, an AP report said.

The fire left significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family and guests to evacuate the building early Sunday. The man, identified as Cody Balmer, arrested later on Sunday, faces charges including attempted homicide, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault, authorities said.

During a police interview, authorities said Cody Balmer told them after he was taken into custody that he would have beaten Shapiro with a small sledge hammer if he had found him, the documents say.

Balmer had walked an hour from his home to the governor's residence, and during the police interview, “Balmer admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro,” according to a police affidavit, but it wasn't noted why.

Who is Cody Balmer

Thirty-eight-year-old Cody Balmer, a resident of Harrisburg, turned himself in to police and told them that he was angry with the governor and would have beaten him with a hammer if confronted, the AP report said.

While not much is known about the Balmer, a Facebook page that appears to belong to him, has several posts criticising former US president Joe Biden. This page is yet to be verified.

In March 2021, Balmer wrote "five dollars was gas money when Trump was president." He also wrote in a post that month that "Joe Biden owes me 2 grand" over a picture of himself.

In another post in September 2021, Balmer poster a meme on the page about the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. It shows Biden in a car with overlaid text reading: "Get in, loser. We're leaving Afghanistan." A second picture of Biden is captioned: “Drives off without you.”

There have been no recent posts on the page. Balmer has faced criminal charges over the past decade including simple assault, theft and forgery, according to online criminal court records.

What really happened at the Shapiro residence

The Shapiro family was woken by a loud pounding on their front door around 2 am on Sunday. One of the state trooper assigned to their detail alerted them of the fire and evacuated the family to safety.

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 am Sunday. They fled and firefighters extinguished the fire, officials said. No one was injured.

Police say suspect hopped security fence and forcibly entered residence

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, according to the AP report.

Cops said Balmer appeared to have carefully planned the attack. He was inside the residence for about a minute before he escaped, they said. Balmer was later arrested in the area.

The damage at Shapiro's residence

“We don’t know the person’s specific motive yet,” Shapiro said at a news conference. “But we do know a few truths. First: This type of violence is not OK. 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 OK, 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.

(With inputs from AP)