Intruder Sets Fire to Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence
The Pennsylvania governor’s mansion was severely damaged early 13 April after a man scaled a 7-foot-high iron security fence, eluded police, and set a fire in the home. The fire forced Governor Josh Shapiro, his family, and guests to evacuate the building at 2:00 a.m. while firefighters extinguished the fire. No one was injured, the Associated Press reported.
The suspect—identified as Cody Balmer, 38—was captured later that day, and he faces charges of attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault. When interviewed, Balmer admitted to forcibly entering the residents and setting the fires, according to the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office. When troopers asked what the suspect would have done if Shapiro had found him, he said he would have beaten the governor with his hammer, the affidavit said.
The motive for the attack has not been disclosed, but Shapiro said the attack was targeted.
Police officials said the intruder had a homemade incendiary device and appeared to have carefully planned the attack. He broke a window with a hammer to enter the residence, and police found two broken beer bottles that had contained gasoline, which they suspect the intruder used to start the fires, The New York Times reported.
A security review is underway to find out how an intruder was able to enter and exit the property after setting the fire, officials told CBS News. Extra security will be added around the residence and Shapiro. The FBI is assisting with the investigation.
Politicians and public officials condemned the attack, including Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor Austin Davis, who said on social media: “I won’t speculate on motivations, but I will say that targeting elected officials and their family members with violence is never acceptable. These sorts of acts deter good people from pursuing public service at a time when we desperately need more Americans to participate in our democracy.”
Concerns about threats against U.S. public officials and politicians have been on the rise lately, with heightened polarization between political factions fueling concerns about violence. In late 2024, the FBI warned about domestic extremist responses to sociopolitical events, including swatting and doxing ideological or political opponents. Statehouses have been targeted with bomb threat hoaxes. Judges and attorneys have been under fire and subject to harassment and attacks. Political figures—including then-presidential candidate Donald Trump—faced assassination attempts.
Officials have also warned about accelerationism within extremist groups, and how malicious actors can be spurred to action by political divisions. In one of the most recent cases, a Wisconsin teenager was charged with killing his parents to obtain the financial means and autonomy needed to assassinate President Donald Trump and overthrow the government to “save the white race,” The Washington Post reported.
Successful political violence plots in the United States remain rare, however, and high-profile incidents often don’t match the overall trend, the Times explained last year. But in April 2024, Princeton’s Bridging Divides Initiative released a Threats and Harassment Dataset cataloguing hostility toward local U.S. officials. The researchers found that reported events—including death threats, stalking, and invasions of privacy—are on the rise overall, especially between 2022 and 2023.
In February 2025, threats and harassment against local officials grew nearly 40 percent from January 2025, the researchers found. “The rise in hostility was fueled in part by the knock-on effects of national political dynamics playing out at the local level, including an uptick in threats and harassment targeting school officials related to debates over education policy and DEI initiatives,” according to the dataset update.
