Suspect in arson at Pennsylvania Governor’s mansion had troubled past

Harrisburg, Pa. — The man charged with attempted murder for setting fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept had a troubled past and a history of mental illness, according to new details on the case that emerged on Monday.

The police said the suspect in the case, Cody Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, climbed an exterior fence outside the residence early Sunday, broke two windows with a hammer and threw Molotov cocktails inside, causing serious damage. He later told investigators that he had fashioned the incendiary devices from beer bottles and gasoline from a lawn mower.

Francis T. Chardo, the Dauphin County district attorney, said that his office was still examining whether the attack was politically or religiously motivated and that investigators were looking at social media, voicemail and other records.

The attack took place on the first night of Passover, a major Jewish holiday, several hours after the governor and his extended family had gathered for a Seder meal.

Balmer, in an interview with the police, “admitted to harboring hatred” of Shapiro and said that he would have “beaten him with his hammer” had he run into him that night at the mansion, according to an affidavit filed in the case.

But Balmer’s social media suggested not a particular ideology so much as a deep cynicism, in some posts espousing a libertarian bent bordering on anarchism, in others praising violence. His Facebook posts included rants about big pharma, women and the government.

While several posts slammed former President Joe Biden, there was little sign of any loyalty to any party; the day of the 2020 election, he wrote: “If your guy won today fantastic have a good time…. within reason. If your guy didn’t go on with life for now.”

Outside of social media, Balmer’s life appeared to have been unraveling in recent days. A man who picked up the phone at Balmer’s parents’ home on Monday said that “we tried to get him help, and he wouldn’t take his medicine,” and refused to answer any more questions. Balmer’s mother, Christie Balmer, told CBS News that her son was “mentally ill” and that she had reached out to local police departments last week to have him “picked up” but “couldn’t get anybody to help.”

Chardo, the district attorney, said that police officers had gone to the parents’ home on Thursday, more than two days before the attack, but had left without taking any action. “He didn’t make any threats,” Chardo said. “He wasn’t violent or expressing any violent intentions, so there’s nothing they could really do. He’s an adult.”

Lt. Jesse W. Foltz of the police department in Penbrook Borough, where the family lives, said that there were “certain criteria we have to meet” to take adults to a mental hospital against their will. “It was one of the things where the threshold for involuntary commitment wasn’t met.”

An employee at a repair shop where Cody Balmer had once worked as a mechanic declined to comment.

Balmer’s courthouse record suggests a steep decline. In 2015, he was placed on probation for 18 months and fined $500 after pleading guilty to putting his name on another person’s payroll check. In 2022, he defaulted on a mortgage and was sued in civil court.

Two years ago, he was charged with multiple counts of assault, accused of beating his ex-wife and children. In that case, according to an affidavit, his wife confronted him after he had swallowed “a bottle full of pills” in an attempt to kill himself. This led to a “fight,” in which he bit her and punched her in the face, punched his then 13-year-old stepson and stepped on another son’s leg, which had recently been broken. The second son was 10 at the time.

Balmer was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility after that incident, PennLive.com reported, citing court papers filed by the ex-wife, who successfully sought a protection order.

Balmer was scheduled to enter a plea in that case this week, though the district attorney said he would be “listed as unavailable” for that hearing.

It is unclear if his ex-wife in that case was the same woman referred to in the affidavit in the governor’s mansion case, whom it says Balmer called after setting the fire, confessing to the crime and asking her to contact the police. A short time after this woman called the police, Balmer showed up in person outside Pennsylvania State Police Headquarters and turned himself in.

Balmer is facing charges of attempted murder, aggravated arson, burglary, terrorism and related offenses.

Pennsylvania State Police officials said he had been taken to a hospital after he was taken into custody “due to a medical event not connected to this incident.” He was cleared by the hospital on Monday evening and taken to his arraignment, where he was denied bail. On the way into the courthouse, Balmer, thin and bald with a heavy beard, stuck out his tongue and rolled his eyes at reporters who were gathered.

Brian Enterline, the Harrisburg fire chief, said to reporters on Monday that the cost of repairing the governor’s mansion would run into the millions. He said that the fire had grown quickly but that if a set of doors between the ballroom and the main staircase had not been closed, slowing its spread, “it would have been a totally different fire and a totally different outcome, most likely.” The chief said that as many as 25 people might have been inside the mansion at the time of the fire, which he called an act of domestic terrorism.

“Being an elected official right now is a scary time,” said Justin Douglas, a Dauphin County commissioner, who added that various threats of political violence in recent years had prompted him to install security cameras at his own home. “I don’t know how we correct course, but we certainly need to.”