Man charged with arson at Pennsylvania governor’s home struggled with mental health, brother says
HARRISBURG — A man charged with setting fire to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion over the weekend had struggled with mental illness, twice being treated at a psychiatric hospital in recent years, his brother said Tuesday.
Court records and interviews with family members show Cody Balmer’s life unraveled dramatically in the years before authorities say the 38-year-old scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and set the Democratic governor's mansion ablaze.
Dan Balmer, an electrical engineer who lives in the Harrisburg suburbs, told The Associated Press that he had given Cody Balmer a place to live a couple years ago. He was involved in getting his brother treatment at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute twice, saying Cody Balmer exhibited disturbing behavior.
“He's had ups and downs his whole life with the bipolar,” Dan Balmer said. “He doesn't believe he's bipolar, so he doesn't take his medicine.”
A motive for the attack, including whether it had anything to do with Shapiro's politics or religious beliefs, wasn't immediately clear.
Cody Balmer, who is registered as an unaffiliated voter, had always been politically interested and considered himself “more of an independent than anything else,” his brother said, but that seemed to change during the 2024 election, when “he tried to convince everybody in the family” to vote for Donald Trump.
The night before the governor's residence was attacked, Dan Balmer said, Cody Balmer flipped over a table containing a jigsaw puzzle at the home where he lived with their parents. Dan Balmer said he felt Cody was verbally abusive to their parents and urged his mother to stand up for herself.
“I remember specifically telling my mom, 'You need to get mad at him because he's taking advantage of you guys,'” he said.
Christie Balmer, Cody Balmer's mother, said Monday that she had made calls in recent days about her son's mental health, but “nobody would help.”
Dan Balmer said that his brother had a grudge against his wife because she pressed for Cody Balmer to get inpatient psychiatric care and that he claimed she was a witch who had cast a spell on him.
The attack is the latest act of political violence in the U.S. Balmer, of Harrisburg, was denied bail Monday as he faced charges including attempted homicide, terrorism and arson. He did not enter a plea. He had told police he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he encountered him after breaking into the building, according to court documents.
The fire caused significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family and guests, including other relatives, to evacuate the building early Sunday. The residence, built in 1968, did not have sprinklers, and the damage could be in the millions of dollars, Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline said.
Shapiro said he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family had celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover on Saturday night in the room where the fire was started. They were awakened by state troopers pounding on their doors about 2 a.m. Sunday. They fled and firefighters extinguished the fire, officials said. No one was injured.
Balmer had walked an hour from his home to the governor's residence, and during a police interview “admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro,” according to a police affidavit that did not expand on that point.
Balmer turned himself in at state police headquarters after confessing to his former partner and asking her to call police, the affidavit said.
Balmer appeared to have carefully planned the attack, police said. He was inside the residence for about a minute before he escaped, Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Col. George Bivens said.
He hopped over a nearly 7-foot-high iron security fence surrounding the property, eluded officers and forcibly entered the residence before setting it on fire, authorities said. He used beer bottles filled with gasoline to make Molotov cocktails, documents say.
Balmer, who said he was an unemployed welder with no income or savings, had been due in court later this week in an assault case in which he was accused of punching two relatives and stepping on a child's broken leg in 2023.
Balmer has faced criminal charges over the past decade including simple assault, theft and forgery, according to online court records. He also had financial problems in recent years, including a lender filing for foreclosure on a modest Harrisburg house he owned in 2022, court records show. A deed transfer shows Balmer sold the house for $60,000 last September to settle the debt.
He is the father of four children, according to his brother, with two women filing court complaints seeking child custody agreements in 2012 and 2023.
