Dauphin County man used beer bottles with gasoline to set fire at Governor’s Residence: police

• By Jack Panyard/LNP | LancasterOnline

A Dauphin County man made homemade Molotov cocktails and walked more than an hour to the Governor’s Residence to light a fire that caused significant damage to the home early Sunday morning, according to police.

Pennsylvania State Police say Cody A. Balmer, 38, of Penbrook Township, admitted to igniting two fires, burning the piano room and kitchen of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s home out of hatred for the politician, according to charging documents.

Police charged Balmer Sunday with attempted criminal homicide, aggravated arson, burglary and five related offenses for the attack. Police say he was taken to Dauphin County Prison for arraignment, but his records have not been updated Monday morning.

According to police, security cameras caught Balmer in the early morning on Sunday hopping the fence from the southern end of the residence on Geiger Street, walking toward the piano room, breaking a window and throwing a lit beer bottle filled with gasoline into the home, according to charges. Balmer then broke another window, entered the kitchen and threw another lit beer bottle with gasoline. He kicked open the kitchen door and left the way he came, running southeast from the home.

Gov. Josh Shapiro said he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family that had celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover with them at the residence on Saturday were awakened by state troopers at about 2 a.m. They were evacuated and the fire was extinguished, officials said. No one was injured.

Police tracked Balmer with the help of privately owned security cameras on his route, according to the charges, finding gloves he wore that smelled of gasoline in a dumpster on an unspecified block of Peffer Street.

A former romantic partner of Balmer called police, saying Balmer asked her to tell them what he did, according to charges. Soon after, Balmer turned himself in to police at the Elmerton Avenue headquarters for Pa. State Police, admitting he was responsible for the fire.

During an interview, Balmer told police he was “harboring hatred” toward Shapiro and had poured gasoline from a lawn mower into Heineken beer bottles and walked more than an hour to the residence with intentions to start a fire, according to charging documents. When police asked what he would have done if he encountered Shapiro, Balmer said he would have beaten him with a small sledgehammer found with the clothes he wore when setting the fire.