Arsonist to be charged for attack on Pennsylvania governor residence
REUTERS/ALAN FREED / FEB. 2
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro waves to the crowd, on the day groundhog Punxsutawney Phil makes his prediction on how long winter will last, during the Groundhog Day festivities, at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney, Pa.
A 38-year-old man was in custody and will face attempted homicide and aggravated arson charges after setting a fire overnight at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, state authorities said at a press conference at the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg on Sunday.
The suspect, identified as Cody Balmer from Harrisburg, whose motive is still unknown, slipped over a fence around the property carrying homemade incendiary devices and evaded state troopers long enough to enter the residence, set it on fire and leave, said Pennsylvania police officials. He was apprehended shortly before the press conference on Sunday.
State police banged on the bedroom doors of Shapiro and his family around 2 a.m. to evacuate them as local firefighters extinguished the blaze. No one was injured, although burn marks could be seen on parts of the building.
Shapiro, a Democrat seen as a potential candidate for his party’s presidential nomination in 2028, said at the press conference that FBI Director Kash Patel had spoken to him a few hours earlier 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 as they celebrated the first night of the Jewish holiday of Passover, which is about going “from slavery into freedom,” according to Shapiro.
“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, vowing to continue his work for Pennsylvania without fear. Shapiro added that his family still planned to hold a second seder on Sunday night.
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When asked whether the attack could have been a hate-motivated crime, Shapiro said he would defer to the findings from federal authorities and Pennsylvania’s district attorney.
A “multifaceted review in terms of security measures and the exact timeline of how it happened” will be carried out, said Lieutenant Christopher Paris, commissioner of the Pennsylvania state police.
