A 38-year-old man has been arrested in connection with an arson fire at the Pennsylvania governor’s house as the governor and his family slept inside.
Harrisburg Bureau of Fire responded to the fire around 2 a.m. and extinguished it, but the building was left with “a significant amount of damage,” according to Pennsylvania State Police.
Gov. Josh Shapiro said that he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family were safely evacuated.
Cody Balmer of Harrisburg was arrested Sunday, Col. Christopher Paris, state police commissioner, said at an afternoon news conference. CNN has reached out to an attorney representing Balmer in another case.
Balmer hasn’t been charged, but Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo said he plans to charge him with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault against an enumerated person. He had some “homemade incendiary devices,” Lt. Col. George Bivens of the Pennsylvania State Police said.
Elected officials have faced a surge in violent threats in recent years – including a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2023, election officials receiving death threats in Georgia, and two assassination attempts against President Donald Trump last year.
Balmer came over a fence around the residence and “forcibly entered” the home before setting the fire, Chardo said. He was inside the governor’s residence for less than a minute, Bivens said.
“He clearly had a plan,” Bivens said. “He was very methodical in his approach.”
The attack was “targeted” but a specific motive is still unknown, Shapiro said at the conference.
The governor emphasized his refusal to be “deterred” in his work. “If this individual was trying to deter me from doing my job as your governor, rest assured, I will find a way to work even harder than I was,” he said.
Shapiro noted that he and his family had celebrated the first night of Passover earlier that evening before the fire.
“If he was trying to terrorize our family, our friends, the Jewish community, who joined us for a Passover Seder in that room last night, hear me on this: we celebrated our faith last night, proudly and in a few hours, we will celebrate our second Seder of Passover,” he said.
“No one will deter me or my family, or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly.”