A 38 year old man named Cody Balmer has been arrested by the police in connection with the arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s residence in Harrisburg late on Saturday night, Pennsylvania state authorities said at a media briefing on Sunday.
The arson fire took place when Governor Shapiro was sleeping with his family inside the residence. The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire responded to the call of arson at 2am and extinguished it, however, “a significant amount of damage” was reported to the building, said Pennsylvania State Police.
Governor Josh Shapiro informed that he, along with his wife, four children, two dogs and another family were safely evacuated by the authorities, CNN reported.
Last night at the Governor’s Residence, we experienced an attack not just on our family, but on the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
This kind of violence has become far too common in our society, and it has to stop. pic.twitter.com/5HP5JSvgfc
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) April 13, 2025
Police recovered homemade incendiary devices from the suspect Cody Balmer which he had made inside the residence before leaving, according to the state police commissioner. The police arrested Balmer in the Harrisburg area on Sunday.
Police investigate Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence after someone set fire to the building in Harrisburg, Pa. (Sean Simmers/The Patriot-News via AP)
In a post on X, Governor Shapiro addressed the arson attack at his residence and wrote “Last night at the Governor’s Residence, we experienced an attack not just on our family, but on the entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This kind of violence has become far too common in our society, and it has to stop.”
Last night at about 2AM, my family and I woke up to bangs on the door from the Pennsylvania State Police after an arsonist set fire to the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg.
The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was on the scene and while they worked to put out the fire, we were…
— Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) April 13, 2025
The investigating team believes that the suspect was able to hop the fence surrounding the residence of Governor Shapiro, and started the blaze when he was inside. The police further added that the governor and his family members were in different parts of the brick home when the arson occurred.
Shapiro and his wife, Lori have four children together: Sophia, Jonah, Max and Reuben, and all of them were in the residence, asleep when the blaze took place.
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