Balmer pleads guilty to attempted murder of Pennsylvania governor

By Christen Smith
The Center Square

The man accused of firebombing the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in Harrisburg pleaded guilty to attempted murder, aggravated arson and terrorism on Tuesday.

Cody Balmer also accepted blame for 22 counts of arson – one for each person asleep in the residence that night, including children ranging from 8 to 16 years old – and has been sentenced to 25-50 years in prison, according to District Attorney Fran Chardo. He will be 63 before becoming eligible for parole.

The charges come six months after Balmer scaled a fence at the 57-year-old Gregorian-style mansion on Front Street during the overnight hours of April 13, prosecutors say. He carried two Molotov cocktails, incendiary devices, and a sledgehammer that he said he would use to kill Shapiro if able.

He broke in, prosecutors say, through a window and set fire to the dining room, where the remnants of a Passover seder meal still sat on tables dressed in white cloths and fine china. Surveillance footage then captured Balmer banging on doors with the sledgehammer before throwing a second Molotov cocktail into the dining room and running away.

Balmer, who was said to be suffering from financial and psychological stress, turned himself in to law enforcement later the same day, saying the attack was motivated by Israeli military action in Gaza. Shapiro, who is Jewish, has been supportive of Israel after Hamas attacked civilians there on Oct. 7, 2023.