HARRISBURG, Pa. — The Harrisburg man charged with the attempted homicide of Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family arrived at the governor’s mansion early Sunday armed with a hammer and gasoline-filled beer bottles. After walking for more than an hour in the middle of the night from his home to the estate in downtown Harrisburg, he was able to scale a fence, break into the residence, ignite three fires, and flee on foot — a stunning breach to the safety and security of Pennsylvania’s top executive.

Cody Balmer, 38, who set the governor’s mansion ablaze knowing that Shapiro and his family could be there, told police he was “harboring a hatred” for him, and would have attacked Shapiro with a hammer if he saw him inside the residence, according to an affidavit of probable cause outlining the charges against Balmer for attempted homicide, terrorism, and other serious crimes related to trying to kill Pennsylvania’s governor.

The arson attack occurred hours after Shapiro, one of the nation’s most prominent Jewish elected officials, had hosted a Seder for Passover in the same room Balmer admitted to setting ablaze, causing significant damage with homemade incendiary devices. And it raises questions about how Shapiro, a popular first-term Democrat, could be subjected to such danger while under the watch of a 24/7 state police detail and additional security at the residence, culminating in an astonishing display of violence.

Balmer, wearing a “Snap-on” jacket with “distinctive shoulder patches,” first broke a window and then threw a Heineken bottle filled with gasoline into the piano room in a wing of the governor’s mansion, police said. He then moved around another side of the building, breaking another window and climbing inside, before starting two other fires, climbing out of the building, and fleeing on foot back over the fence, according to the criminal complaint.

And it all could have been much worse. The Harrisburg Fire Chief Brian Enterline said in a news conference Monday that had the door that connects the reception room to the rest of the mansion — where Shapiro, his wife, four children, and approximately 20 extended family members had been sleeping — not been locked, the fire would have spread quickly to the rest of the 29,000-foot residence.

State police declined to answer questions Monday about Shapiro’s security detail, security operations at the governor’s residence, how police were alerted to the breach, and whether Balmer previously threatened Shapiro’s life. A spokesperson for the state police said the questions were not answered “due to concerns for security or the integrity of the active investigation.”

Shapiro, during a news conference Sunday in front of several charred and broken windows at the mansion, said he had “total confidence in the Pennsylvania state police,” but declined to talk about his security detail.

The break-in and a checkered past

Balmer has faced criminal charges on several occasions over the last decade, including for assault, forgery, and traffic-related offenses. His social media presence on Facebook suggested he held no allegiance to a specific political party or hatred toward specific groups, posting mostly about drug use, relationship troubles, and memes across the political spectrum.

In 2023, Balmer was charged with three counts of simple assault in a case that is ongoing in Dauphin County. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to one felony count of forgery and was sentenced to 18 months of probation.

Balmer’s mother, Christie Balmer, told the Associated Press her son has bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and had not been taking his medications.

Balmer was taken to an area hospital “due to a medical event not connected to this incident nor his arrest,” police said Monday. He was arraigned that evening and denied bail.

According to the criminal complaint, Balmer’s “ex-paramour” called police and said that Balmer had confessed to her, asking her to call police on him as officials declared a manhunt for the perpetrator was underway. Balmer then appeared at state police headquarters in Harrisburg on Sunday afternoon and turned himself in, the complaint said.

Balmer told investigators he hated Shapiro, and that if he found the governor at the property early Sunday morning, he would have “beaten him” with the hammer he brought with him to break into the residence, according to the complaint.

He also told police he walked for an hour to the residence early Sunday before scaling the fence of the estate – which eight of Pennsylvania’s governors have called home since 1968 – breaking in to start the fires, and fleeing on foot.

Enterline, the fire chief, told reporters at Monday’s news conference that Balmer was in and out of the governor’s mansion for about a minute while lighting the bottles filled with gasoline from his lawnmower before being “quickly overcome by the product of combustion.”

According to the call placed to dispatch, there were as many as 25 people in the home at the time of the arson, Enterline said, calling Balmer a “domestic terrorist” for putting the lives of Pennsylvania’s first family and firefighters at risk.

It took crews around 30 minutes to get the blaze at the governor’s mansion under control, Enterline said.

The first night of Passover

The break-in and fires at the residence occurred on the first night of Passover. State police said Sunday that “all avenues” were being explored as for Balmer’s motive, including potential hate crimes. The criminal complaint filed Sunday notes that Balmer hated Shapiro, but does not detail whether it is in relation to his Judaism. No motive was made public as of Monday afternoon.

If antisemitism did play a role in the attack, Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said during an appearance on CNN, “it’s reprehensible, and anyone that would do that, they need to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.“

He added that it is “very, very concerning” that Balmer was able to enter the governor’s mansion.

Shapiro, who was uninjured, had been staying in the residence that night with his family and some extended family, following the start of the Jewish holiday. He had hosted a Passover Seder hours earlier in the room that Balmer admitted to setting ablaze with homemade incendiary devices.

The extent of the damage to the 29,000-square-foot mansion along the Susquehanna River, built in 1968, was unclear on Monday, but Enterline estimated it would cost “millions of dollars” due to the residence’s historic nature.

Shapiro, in emotional remarks, condemned the incident on Sunday, saying: “This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society … We have to be better than this. And we have a responsibility to all be better.”

“If he was trying to terrorize our family, our friends, the Jewish community who joined us for a Passover Seder in that room last night, hear me on this: We celebrated our faith last night proudly and in a few hours we will celebrate our second Seder of Passover again proudly,” Shapiro added.

‘A horrific thing’

Shapiro thanked President Donald Trump and federal authorities for supporting state police in the investigation. He told reporters Sunday he spoke to FBI Director Kash Patel, who “was extremely kind and courteous and thoughtful in his conversation with me.”

Trump — who previously attacked Shapiro on social media, focusing on the governor’s Jewish faith, after Shapiro was in contention to become former Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate — briefly addressed the incident while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office Monday afternoon, saying “a thing like that cannot be allowed to happen.”

The president’s remarks were in response to a question from a reporter who asked if he had been made aware of a potential motive, given federal investigators are assisting in the probe.

“No, I haven’t,” Trump responded, “but the attacker was not a fan of Trump, I understand, just from what I’ve read and from what I’ve been told. The attacker basically wasn’t a fan of anybody.”

At an unrelated event in Lebanon County on Monday, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick said he had spoken to Shapiro the day of the break-in, and that the governor had told him he was “anxious” about hosting the 80-person Seder in his home.

“And less than 12 hours later, we have this,” the Republican senator added. “There’s no room in our society for violence, violence against public officials, and it’s a horrific thing.”

Former Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat and Shapiro’s immediate predecessor who has been largely quiet in his retirement, broke his silence Monday to call the attack “deeply disturbing and unacceptable.”

“It stands in stark contrast to the values we hold as a commonwealth and as a society,” Wolf said. “We are better than this.”

Shapiro lives in the Harrisburg governor’s residence when he is not at his home in Abington Township. He has four children, two of whom are still minors who attend school in Montgomery County.

He also often uses the residence for events, including as a place for budget negotiations, which are set to begin in the coming months.

On Monday, Shapiro, through his texting platform, expressed his gratitude to those who have offered him and his family support in the wake of the attack.

“Know that we are lifted up by the light you have shined upon us during this difficult time,” the message said. “From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.”

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(Staff writer Anna Orso contributed to this article.)

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