Pennsylvania governor, family escape arson attack; suspect to face terror charges
New York: Pennsylvania’s Governor Josh Shapiro and his family have escaped an early morning attack on his official mansion, where a man evaded security and set the building on fire. He will now face terrorism charges.
Shapiro said that they were woken up at about 2 am on Sunday by police and safely evacuated from the residence in the state capital Harrisburg.
Officials said that a 38-year-old man, Cody Balmer, who had jumped over the fence to avoid the police guarding the house before setting the fire and escaping, was later arrested in the city.
The local prosecutor, Fran Chardo, said that Balmer would be charged with terrorism, attempted murder, and arson.
Shapiro is Jewish and the attack happened during his religion’s sacred days of Passover that commemorates the Jews’ ancient escape from slavery in Egypt.
Hours earlier, the governor had held the ritual Seder dinner for the occasion at the very room where the fire was set.
“If he was trying to terrorise my family, my friends”, Shapiro said, “we celebrated our faith proudly, no one will deter me from celebrating my faith openly and proudly”.
“This type of violence is not OK. I don’t give a damn if it’s from one particular side or another. It’s not OK”, he said at a news conference outside his house.
An influential Democratic Party leader, Shapiro was among the finalists to be the vice president nominee on Kamala Harris’ presidential ticket last year.
Shapiro thanked Kash Patel, the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who, he said, “promised all of the resources of the federal government”.
The property of a man with a name similar to the alleged attacker was listed for auction under court orders for defaulting on the mortgage.
The attack on the governor’s mansion is the latest in the series of violence directed against politicians in the polarised US.
Last year, US President Donald Trump was injured in an assassination bid in Pennsylvania while campaigning for election, and another was foiled in Florida.
A man entered the house of former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in 2023, and her husband was seriously injured in the attack.