Shapiro: Arsonist’s guilty plea is a ‘just outcome’ after firebombing at governor’s residence

The man accused of setting fire to the Pennsylvania governor’s residence and attempting to kill Gov. Josh Shapiro in April pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of arson, terrorism and attempted murder – a result that the governor said is a “just outcome” to a harrowing time for him and his family.

Joined by his wife Lori, Shapiro gave a statement to reporters on Tuesday morning following the guilty plea, where he said he and his family still struggle to make sense of the April attack, in which Penbrook man Cody Balmer broke into the governor’s residence in Harrisburg and set fire to the building using Molotov cocktails while Shapiro and his family were inside. 

“It's hard for me to stand before you today and utter the words ‘attempted murder’ when it's your own life – to know that someone tried to kill me,” the governor said. “It's especially hard to know that he tried to burn our family to death while we slept.”

Balmer, a former mechanic, set fire to the governor’s residence in the early morning hours on April 13, just hours after Shapiro, his family and guests had finished a Passover seder. Balmer used a hammer to break into the governor’s residence before exiting the building and fleeing the scene. He later turned himself in, and told police that he would have beaten Shapiro with his hammer if he encountered him inside the residence. Balmer’s family said he suffered from mental health issues, and said in court Tuesday that that his actions cannot be excused and “can only be understood through the context of mental illness,” according to PennLive.

Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison. 

Surveillance videos shared by Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo’s office show Balmer, hammer in hand, breaking into the governor's residence on April 13. 

Another clip shows Balmer setting a fire from inside the residence.

A third video uploaded by the DA’s office shows Balmer wandering around inside the home. 

In the aftermath of the attack, Shapiro has vocally denounced political violence coming from all sides of the political spectrum, a refrain he echoed on Tuesday. 

“I think it's important that in this time of rising political violence that none of us grow numb to it or accept this as the normal course of doing business for elected officials,” he said. “I think we need real accountability for acts of political violence, and today is real accountability for the violence that came here to Pennsylvania.”

“This is a just outcome, and I want you to know that our family fully supported the plea that he negotiated,” Shapiro added, referencing the work of Chardo.

The fire damaged the residence’s piano and dining rooms, resulting in more than $6 million in repairs, according to Spotlight PA. 

Shapiro also expressed guilt that his work as governor put his family in danger. “I've carried with me this enormous sense of guilt, guilt that doing this job that I love so much has put our children's lives at risk,” he said. “It's been really hard and, candidly, I don't know that I've been able to give them the right answers.” 

He said the attack is something that he and his family continue to work through, and that it will leave a lasting impact. 

“We remain focused and committed to doing our work on behalf of the good people of Pennsylvania, and nothing and no one will stop us from doing that important work,” he said. “We will forever be changed by this. We know that time will heal, but the scars will remain.”

Shapiro’s full statement can be viewed below.