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Agence France-Presse

US prosecutors charged a man on Monday with the attempted murder of Democratic heavyweight and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro after a weekend arson attack at his residence, court filings showed.
Cody Balmer, 38, was charged with attempted criminal homicide along with seven other offences – including terrorism affecting the government and prowling at nighttime. He was denied bail.
He told police he harboured “hatred towards Shapiro”, according to the criminal docket.
Asked what he would have done had he encountered Shapiro in the residence, Balmer told investigators he would “have beaten him with his hammer”.
Shapiro, widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, was inside with his family when the fire broke out in a different part of the Georgian-style mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania on Sunday, state police said earlier.
“While the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a significant amount of damage to a portion of the residence,” the force said in a statement. No casualties were reported.
Shapiro said that he and his sleeping family were woken up by a police trooper who “banged on our door” at around 2.00am local time and that they were evacuated from the building.
“Thank God no one was injured, and the fire was extinguished,” he said.

The fire badly damaged the large room that is often used for entertaining crowds and art displays. Large west- and south-facing windows were completely missing their glass panes and shattered glass littered pathways. A charred piano, tables, walls, metal buffet serving dishes and more could be seen through broken windows and fire-blackened doors.
Speaking to reporters outside the residence, a broken window blackened by the fire visible behind him, Shapiro made a forceful appeal for an end to political violence.
“We don’t know the person’s specific motive yet,” Shapiro said. “But we do know a few truths. First: This type of violence is not OK.
“This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society. And 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 OK, and it has to stop. We have to be better than this.”
Shapiro, who is Jewish, held a ceremony with family and friends earlier in the night to mark the first night of the Passover holiday.
Shapiro has said he would not be intimidated in observing his faith.
Police said in charging documents released on Monday that Balmer was captured on surveillance cameras climbing a perimeter fence, breaking a window and throwing a petrol-filled Heineken beer bottle, before breaking another window, entering the residence and igniting another bottle.
He then fled the property.

An ex-lover of Balmer called police and reported that the alleged arsonist wanted to hand himself in, the criminal complaint alleges.
Balmer then subsequently walked up to state police headquarters and told an officer he was responsible for the blaze.
He is the father of at least three children, with two women filing court complaints seeking child custody agreements in 2012 and 2023.
Balmer has faced criminal charges over the past decade including simple assault, theft and forgery, according to online court records.
Top Republican officials reacted to the attack on Sunday, with US Attorney General Pam Bondi saying on social media she was “deeply relieved that Governor Shapiro and his family are safe”.
Vice-President J.D. Vance called the attack “really disgusting violence” and said he hoped “whoever did it is brought swiftly to justice”.
US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Balmer did not appear to be a fan of his, either.
“The attacker basically wasn’t a fan of anybody,” he said. “And certainly, a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen.”
The 51-year-old Shapiro was in the race to be Democrat Kamala Harris’s running mate in her ultimately unsuccessful US presidential bid – a position that instead went to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
Shapiro, an assertive political centrist, was elected governor of Pennsylvania in 2022 when he faced off against a far-right candidate backed by Trump.
Additional reporting by Associated Press


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Cody Balmer is taken from a courtroom on Monday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania after being denied bail for charges including starting a fire at Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home. Photo: AP

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Extensive fire damage to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion. Photo: AFP

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News

World

United States & Canada

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home was targeted in an arson attack on Sunday; suspect Cody Balmer faces multiple charges, including attempted murder


Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home was targeted in an arson attack on Sunday; suspect Cody Balmer faces multiple charges, including attempted murder.


Donald Trump

US Politics

Crime