The suspect in a arson on Pennsylvania -Governor Josh Shapiro’s home is accused of attempted murder, terrorism, worsened arson and other crimes after his arrest.
The 38-year-old suspect, Cody Balmer, was taken into custody on Sunday, after the police had taken Mr Shapiro and his family out of the official home of the governor and firefighters put out the fire in the middle of the night.
In a likely cause statement on Sunday, the authorities said that Balmer filled beer bottles with gasoline in his house in Harrisburg and ran for about an hour to reach the governor’s home.
Once he arrived, he scaled a fence, broke two windows and threw the Molotov cocktails in and fled, says the statement.
The fire burned in two rooms that were not close to where Mr. Shapiro and members of his family slept.
“Although the fire was successfully extinguished, it caused a considerable amount of damage to a part of the home,” said emergency authorities in a statement.
A suspected director scaled a fence, broke two windows and threw Molotov cocktails in the house of Pennsylvania gouverneur Josh Shapiro. ((AP: Marc Levy))
Hours later Balmer turned to the police. He told them that he cherished “hate” towards the governor and he planned to beat the governor with a hammer when he encountered him, the authorities said in the statement.
Balmer was accused of attempted murder, terrorism and worsened arson. He is also confronted with hanging around and worsened attack costs.
Mr Shapiro, seen a Democrat as a potential candidate for the presidential nomination of his party in 2028, said during a press conference that FBI director Kash Patel had spoken with him a few hours earlier and “promised all means of the federal government in investigating the attack.
Mr. Shapiro kept a press conference outside his house in the aftermath of the attack and said that he intends to continue to serve the people of Pennsylvania without fear. ((AP: Marc Levy))
The American Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a position on X that she was “deeply relieved”, the governor and his family were safe and applauded the rapid arrest of Balmer.
Vice-president JD VANCE called the attack “really disgusting violence” and said he hopes “who did it, will be brought to court soon,” while President Donald Trump was asked for the attack while he returned to Washington on board Air Force One, he said he had just heard about it.
The house was set on fire for hours after Mr Shapiro posted a photo of his family’s “Seder” table while celebrating Pascha’s first night of the Jewish holiday, which is about “from slavery to freedom,” according to Shapiro.
Emergency authorities that have worked on extinguishing the fire say that the fire has considerably damaged Mr Shapiro’s house of Mr Shapiro. ((AP: Marc Levy))
Speaking with reporters outside the house, a broken window made black by the fire visibly behind him, Mr Shapiro made a powerful attraction for an end of political violence.
“This kind of violence is far too common in our society, and I don’t care if it comes from one or the other … it’s not ok, and it has to stop,” he said.
“I refuse to be caught by the slavery that someone tries to turn on on me by attacking us as they did here last night.”
Mr. Shapiro added that his family was still planning to hold a second seder on Sunday evening.
When asked whether the attack could have been a hat-motivated crime, Mr. Shapiro said that he would postpone the findings of the federal authorities and the public prosecutor of Pennsylvania.
Authorities will perform a “versatile assessment in terms of security measures and the exact timeline of how it happened,” said Lieutenant Christopher Paris, Commissioner of the State Police of Pennsylvania.
Reuters
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