In the early morning hours of Sunday, April 13, a man broke into the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion and set it on fire while the Governor and his family were sleeping inside.
Officials said 38-year-old Cody Balmer scaled a fence, evaded state troopers protecting the home, and broke into the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion located in Harrisburg, and started a fire, forcing Governor Josh Shapiro and his family to evacuate.
The family and their dogs made it out of the home unharmed. Balmer was arrested Sunday afternoon and is facing charges of terrorism, aggravated arson, attempted murder and more.
Speaking to the press, Shapiro said, “This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society.”
Balmer’s mother told CBS News that her son is, “Mentally ill and he went off his medication.”
Shapiro explained he woke up to bangs on his bedroom door by Pennsylvania State Troopers around 2 a.m. The troopers evacuated the Shapiro’s as fire crews battled the flames.
On Monday, President Donald Trump spoke on the attack, “Certainly a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen,” and referred to Balmer as a, “Whack job”.
According to a NewsHour poll released in April 2024, one in five Americans believe political violence can be justified. Shapiro said after the attack, “I don’t give a damn if it’s coming from one particular side or the other, directed at one particular party or another, or one particular person or another, it is not okay, and it has to stop. We have to be better than this. We have a responsibility to all be better.”
The attack is the most recent in what has been a rise in political violence across the United States.
In July 2024, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks shot at Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Trump survived a gunshot wound to the ear, but a fireman in the crowd was killed shielding his family.
In Oct. 2022, an armed intruder broke into former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s San Francisco home and beat her husband, Paul Pelosi, with a hammer.
On Jan. 6, 2021, supporters of Trump stormed the United States Capitol Building in an attempt to delay or stop the certifcation of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win. More than 140 police officers were injurd and five police officer deaths were attributed to the attack, according to a bipartisan Senate report.
In Oct. 2020, federal and state law enforcement officers foiled an attempt to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. Thirteen men linked to a right-wing extremist group were arrested with the plot, according to TIME Magazine.
Jason Blazakis is the Director of the Center on Terrorism, Extremism and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. He said, “The election polarization driven by the rise of conspiracy theories, mis and disinformation, and then the global political scene is making for a really dangerous situation.” Shapiro and his residence will have additional security, according to the Pennsylvania State Police.
