A 38-year-old man is in custody over suspected arson at the Pennsylvania governor’s residence, with authorities investigating crimes including terrorism and attempted homicide, officials said Sunday.
Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris said Sunday during a press conference that 38-year-old Cody Balmer had been arrested over the fire, which Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) said woke up his family at 2 a.m. Sunday morning.
The fire did significant damage to a portion of the house.
Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo also said during the press conference that charges against Balmer “will include attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault against an enumerated person.”
“These are all very serious charges, as with any charges, the defendant is presumed innocent,” Chardo added. “We will file those charges within the next several hours”
Shapiro also spoke during the press conference, saying “if this individual was trying to deter me from doing my job as your governor, rest assured, I will find a way to work even harder than I was just yesterday for the good people of Pennsylvania.”
Shapiro said in a previous post on the social platform X that earlier in the day, “my family and I woke up to bangs on the door from the Pennsylvania State Police after an arsonist set fire to the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg.”
“The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was on the scene and while they worked to put out the fire, we were evacuated from the Residence safely by Pennsylvania State Police and assisted by Capitol Police. Thank God no one was injured and the fire was extinguished,” the governor added.