The man suspected of setting fire to the home of Pennsylvania’s Jewish governor, Josh Shapiro, said he targeted Shapiro because of “what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” according to a search warrant signed by state police and quoted by local news outlets.
Law enforcement said that Cody Balmer, the 38-year-old Harrisburg resident, had set fire to the governor’s mansion “based upon perceived injustices to the people of Palestine.” According to the warrant, in a 911 call immediately following the attack early Sunday, Balmer stated that Shapiro should “stop having my friends killed” and that “our people have been put through too much by that monster.”
The fire caused extensive damage to the historic mansion where Shapiro, one of the most prominent Jewish politicians in the country and a prospect for higher office, had hosted a Passover seder with his family earlier that night. No one was injured.
State police said they have not yet determined whether to charge Balmer with “ethnic intimidation.” He already faces more than 100 years in prison for the incident.
When he was being vetted as a possible Democratic vice-presidential pick in 2024, Shapiro received numerous hostile attacks from the left owing to his support of Israel. Some pro-Palestinian progressives, protesting the war in Gaza, dubbed him “Genocide Josh.”
Balmer has also been described by authorities and family members as mentally unstable, off his medication and harboring negative feelings about Democrats and other political issues at the time of the attack. After his arrest, he reportedly stated that he intended to kill Shapiro. His mother told police she had tried to have him hospitalized two days before the incident, but that police determined at that time he did not pose a violent threat.
Also on Wednesday, Attorney General Pam Bondi condemned the attack as “absolutely horrific” and added, “We have been praying for Josh, for his family. Those photos, it was horrible. I firmly believe that they wanted to kill him.” She declined to name the attack as an act of domestic terrorism but said federal authorities are assisting in the investigation.
FBI Director Kash Patel called Shapiro in the wake of the incident, while President Donald Trump separately described the suspect as “probably just a whack job.”
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