A stone-faced Cody Balmer remained quiet outside of answering questions as a district judge in Harrisburg deemed the suspected arsonist too great a danger to be released from jail pending trial.
Balmer, 38, is accused of firebombing the governor’s mansion early Sunday as Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside. He told investigators he hated the governor and, had Mr. Shapiro caught him inside, he would have attacked him with a hammer.
His defense attorney, Colin Whitener, had asked District Judge Dale Klein to set “reasonable bail,” but Judge Klein said during the late afternoon arraignment that there were no bail conditions that would ensure the community’s safety.
Asked by the judge if he knew why he was there, Balmer — dressed in a tan long-sleeve shirt, jeans and Chuck Taylor high-tops — said yes. He told her he had last lived on Boas Street and was being held at the Camp Hill Correctional Facility. He said he was unemployed and previously worked as a welder.
Balmer called discussion about his mental health issues a "rumor" and, when asked by the judge if he had kids, he replied: "A lot of children, ma'am," but he declined to say how many.
After the judge ordered Balmer held without bail, he spoke with Mr. Whitener for several minutes. He declined to answer questions before he was driven away by a state trooper.
Balmer is charged with attempted homicide, terrorism, burglary, aggravated assault, aggravated arson, reckless endangerment and loitering and prowling at night.
Police said security footage in and around the governor’s mansion showed a man later identified as Balmer climbing over a fence, smashing the window of what turned out to be the ballroom area, and throwing an “incendiary device” inside. Balmer allegedly broke another window, climbed inside, threw another incendiary device, and took off toward Geiger Street.
Investigators later said the devices appeared to be Molotov cocktails fashioned from Heineken beer bottles.
On Sunday, a woman who identified herself as an ex-partner of Balmer, called police to tell them she believed Balmer was responsible for the fire. The woman allegedly said Balmer confessed to the firebombing and asked her to call police. Not long after, Balmer himself approached a state police officer on Elmerton Avenue and said he wanted to turn himself in.
Balmer told investigators he used gas from a lawn mower to fill the bottles and walked about an hour to the governor’s mansion. He told investigators he “harbor[ed] hatred” toward the governor but otherwise offered little insight into a potential motive for the attack.
Harrisburg fire officials painted a grim picture of what could have been, with fire Chief Brian Enterline indicating that the happenstance of a closed door might have saved Mr. Shapiro and his family.
“It would have been a totally different fire and a totally different outcome, most likely, had that door not been closed,” the chief said at a late morning media conference streamed by WGAL8.
The chief said the fire would have otherwise spread quickly down the hallway that leads from the ballroom and dining room, where the governor and his family had marked the start of Passover hours earlier, to the main staircase.
The governor, first lady Lori Shapiro, the couple’s four children and multiple family members who had gathered for the Passover Seder were evacuated from the residence shortly after 2 a.m.
State police allege Balmer climbed a fence along Geiger Street on the southwest side of the building, broke a window and threw what investigators later determined as a Molotov cocktail into what turned out to be the dining room/ballroom area. Balmer allegedly broke another window, went inside, threw a second Molotov cocktail, and then took off.
“The Molotov cocktail is no different than a gun,” Chief Enterline said. “When I got that Molotov cocktail in my hand, I know at the end of the day, I’m going to create damage, destruction, and … I want to kill somebody.”
Radio dispatches among firefighters showed some confusion at first as to where the fire actually was located: The 29,000-square-foot residence takes up what amounts to an entire city block. The first firefighters on scene couldn’t initially see any signs of fire.
“Truck 2 on scene, nothing showing,” one firefighter radioed a few minutes into the call.
“I have nothing showing from windows,” another said moments later.
Crews eventually found the flames coming from the far southern end of the home. The chief said the security of the complex also presented challenges, and crews had to cut through one of the large metal gates surrounding the building.
“We can’t just drive firetrucks to the front of the thing like we normally can do,” he said, noting that even then a firetruck couldn’t have fit through the gate opening. Instead, crews ran long hoses.
Chief Enterline said those obstacles only delayed crews by a few minutes.
The governor’s residence does not have a sprinkler system, and fire crews have never run fire drills at the complex.
“We all have one thing in common, and that is we’re all human,” he said. “And there’s a human element to fire and the way it affects us, and that was very evident in Gov. Shapiro the other night.”
He pointed to a January fire at a homeless encampment in the southern part of the city that killed a man and then to the fire early Sunday at the governor’s home.
“The governor was human at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning just like every one of us is,” he said, saying the ordeal clearly touched Mr. Shapiro and showed him that fire “is not something that happens to somebody else.”
Social media presence lacks clear ideology
Those who know Balmer had little to say about him. Some said he lived with mental health issues.
His mother, Christie Balmer, told the Associated Press that her son has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
“He wasn’t taking his medicine, and that’s all I want to say,” she said.
Among Balmer’s most recent addresses was a two-story home on Canby Street in Penbrook. A sign on the front door of the home indicated it has been condemned. Property records and court filings indicate Balmer sold the house in a short sale in late September.
Creditors had been trying to foreclose on corner-lot home since late 2022, and it was twice supposed to go up for sheriff’s sale. Balmer’s attorney filed paperwork in mid-2024 indicating that Balmer fell behind on his mortgage “due to several hardship factors, including injuries from an auto accident leading to his inability to work and maintain an income and a separation from his wife.”
The court filing continued: “He had previously attempted to find a way to catch up on his loan in an attempt to bring the debt current and stay in the home, but in light of his issues he came to the conclusion that a short sale of the property was his only recourse from foreclosure.”
The home was condemned at some point, which put the sale on hold, according to the court records. Balmer “sought to address some of the issues” and received confirmation in early July the property was no longer condemned.
One Canby Street neighbor who declined to be named said Balmer had mental health issues and had not been taking his medications for six or so months.
“He had needed help for a while,” the neighbor said.
Balmer appears to have lived in the Penbrook area for most of his life.
Lee and Donna Zimmerman, longtime co-owners of Zimmerman's, a candy and nuts shop in Penbrook dating to 1915, said they knew Balmer since he was a young kid.
They said they were aware of potential mental health issues and saddened when they heard the news about Balmer’s involvement in the firebombing.
They said Balmer and his family grew up on Banks Street, a road that runs a block down from the candy shop.
"Sometimes people take lefts, they take rights, or they come to a Y in the road" and make bad decisions, Ms. Zimmerman said.
Balmer worked as a mechanic for at least some stretch of time, and Kindermans Auto Repair, a Harrisburg shop referenced several times on Balmer’s Facebook page, appeared to try to distance itself from “a former employee.”
“In light of current events regarding a former employee of ours, we would like to say that he has not worked for us for over two years,” the post read. “While we are saddened to learn of these current charges, we fully support our men and women in law enforcement as well as our government officials. We have no further comment at this time.”
A mechanic at Lehman’s Automotive Service Center, which is roughly three blocks from Kindermans, explained that his shop subcontracted some types of work to Kindermans, and he would often give Balmer rides from one shop to the other.
The mechanic, who declined to be named, said Balmer used to coach for Paxton Youth Football and had been training to become a welder. He said Balmer was kind but “could get set off” easily.
Balmer was awaiting a plea hearing in a 2023 simple assault case in which he allegedly struck his wife and two sons, who were aged 10 and 13 at the time.
Police responded Jan. 29, 2023, to a home on Houston Avenue after one of the children called 911 to report that his stepfather was “beating his mother,” according to the criminal complaint. Police said the woman was yelling and crying when they arrived.
Balmer allegedly told police he had taken a “bottle full of pills” in an attempt to kill himself, which sparked an argument between Balmer and wife. At some point, the older child got between the two. Balmer “admitted to shoving his son and that a fight ensued between all parties,” police wrote. His wife told officers that Balmer hit her and the older child and “elbowed his 10-year-old son … multiple times in the chest.” She alleged Balmer stood on the younger boy’s leg which had previously been broken.
The 2023 incident appears to be the only violent crime for which Balmer has been charged in Pennsylvania. He pleaded guilty in 2016 to forgery for trying to cash two paychecks from a flower shop where he did not work the year prior.
He was not affiliated with any political party, according to voter registration records. In what was publicly viewable on social media, Balmer showed little in the way of political leanings.
Some of his posts on Facebook railed against police and political figures and others expressed frustration with the broader economic order that he said left people like him behind.
In his most recent public post in June 2023, he reposted a video accusing the media of using the Titan submersible disaster to distract from a House impeachment vote against former President Joe Biden and U.S. aid to Ukraine.
In another post, he criticized the price of gas under Mr. Biden — and also rips into President Donald Trump, saying the price at the pump was just as bad under his first term.
“I don’t play favorites, especially since they all suck,” he wrote in March 2021.
That same month, he posted an image of himself holding a blowtorch in a way that made it appear he was breathing fire. Overlaying the photo, he wrote, “Joe Biden owes me 2 grand.”
Jimmy Cloutier, Mike Wereschagin and Michael D. Sallah contributed to this report
First Published: April 15, 2025, 12:12 a.m.
Updated: April 15, 2025, 7:26 p.m.
