Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Man Tried To Blow Up Pennsylvania Governor's Mansion: Police

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and his family were sleeping in the governor's mansion in Harrisburg early Sunday morning when a man broke in and set two Molotov cocktails on fire. The fire damaged the piano room and dining room. Police say Cody Balmer, 38, later confessed to breaking in and setting the fire because he hated Shapiro. Law&Crime's Angenette goes over the case in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Get 50% off of confidential background reports at https://www.truthfinder.com/lccrimefix and access information about almost anyone!Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Matt Mangino  https://x.com/MatthewTManginoProducer: Jordan ChaconCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and what police are saying about Cody Ballmer. Last night we experienced an attack not just on our family but on the entire commonwealth of Pennsylvania here at the governor's residence. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. The governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, and his family were sleeping early Sunday morning when they were pulled from their beds. Someone had broken into the governor's mansion in Harrisburg and set the place on fire with Molotov cocktails. They are lucky to be alive. The photos from inside the governor's mansion are unbelievable. They show the damage done to the dining room and piano room. Police say a man carrying Heineken bottles filled with gasoline

broke in and lit them on fire and took off. The Shapiros had celebrated Passover the evening before. You can see a sign mentioning Passover crafts for the children. It's charred along with parts of a Torah and the rest of the rooms. Hours earlier, Shapiro had posted this photo on X of a table at the mansion wishing people a happy Passover. Police say the man who attacked the mansion is 38-year-old Cody Balmer and that he later turned himself into police after his ex-girlfriend called to report that he set the fire. Governor Shapiro held a press conference on Sunday and started off by addressing the public on his perspective of what happened. Last night at approximately two o'clock in the morning, while my family and I were asleep upstairs here at the governor's residence, one of the state troopers assigned to our detail banged on our door, woke us up and told us we had an emergency and needed to leave immediately.

Together, we secured all of our children, our two dogs, our family that was staying with us. And the troopers safely evacuated us from the governor's residence. Now, the investigation, of course, is still ongoing. So the Pennsylvania governor only shares what he knows. But we do know that this attack was targeted. We don't know the person's specific motive yet, but we do know a few truths. First, this type of violence is not okay. This kind of violence is becoming far too common in our society.

And I don't give a damn if it's coming from one particular side or the other. Directed at one particular party or another or one particular person or another. It is not okay. And it has to stop. We have to be better than this. We have a responsibility to all be better. Second, if this individual was trying to deter me from doing my job as your governor, rest assured I will find a way to work even harder than I was just yesterday for the good people of Pennsylvania. Here's a third truth. 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. No one will deter me or my family or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly. Cody Ballmer has prior criminal convictions, including for forgery. So I put his name into truthfinder.com to see what might come up. Truthfinder is one of the largest public record search services that's out there. Bomber's address in Harrisburg comes up along with traffic citations and his forgery convictions. Truthfinder is really great because it will show you a person's past and current addresses, phone numbers, social media accounts, and of course, those criminal and traffic records

that I mentioned. If you'd like to try Truthfinder, you can get a really great deal. 50% off of confidential background reports right now. Just log on to www.truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix. Log on and start accessing information about almost anyone. Then the governor hands it over to the head of the Pennsylvania State Police, Christopher Paris, to discuss the investigation. So I can confirm at this point, as we put out already, we are conducting an arson investigation

and we're conducting an attempted homicide and aggravated arson investigation. That is the paradigm that we've operated in. A lot of the investigative tasks have focused on the who up until this point. Obviously we're trying to piece together very early on the exact sequence of events. We were late in coming out here because we were getting rapid information as it was occurring, and I'm pleased to announce that we do have an individual His name is Cody Balmer, B-A-L-M-E-R, age 38, with a Harrisburg Post Office address. The DA, Fran Chardo, then takes over to detail how the state intends to handle the case against Cody Balmer. We are preparing a criminal complaint to charge him, but the charges will include attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson,

and aggravated assault against an enumerated person. These are all very serious charges. As with any charges, the defendant is presumed innocent. We will file those charges within the next several hours, and we will include a probable cause affidavit, which will detail the basis for this arrest. The affidavit filed with the criminal complaint goes into detail about what Ballmer is accused of doing. And there's video of it, according to police. Authorities aren't releasing any of that footage yet. But during the press conference, Lieutenant Colonel George Biving goes into some detail about how Cody Bulmer made entry onto the premises. So this individual came over a fence

right behind where all of you are standing right now. He actively evaded troopers who were here to secure the residence even while they were searching for him on the property. While they were searching is when he attacked at the residence, broke in and set the fires. So that was all playing out over a period of several minutes. It was a very quick event that occurred and again troopers were actively searching for him at the time. What did he use to start the fire? He had some homemade incendiary devices.

Molotov cocktail? I'm not going to provide a lot more detail on that right now. A lot of material has been collected and is being analyzed, but I think a homemade device describes it for right now. So there is already a security review underway to determine how we can ensure that we don't have a repeat of a situation like this. We look at all aspects, personnel, technical surveillance equipment, security equipment. All of that will be reviewed, and we will do our best to ensure that the governor and his family are safe in this residence. Now the criminal complaint discusses just how

significant the damage was that was caused by this fire throughout the piano room and the dining room of the mansion. During the search, investigators located those two broken glass bottles, which were later confirmed by the Pennsylvania Fire Marshal to be Heineken beer bottles containing gasoline. Investigators then tracked Balmer's escape path through privately owned security cameras, and they found two gloves in a trash can matching the ones worn by the defendant depicted in the footage. One is yellow and one is orange. It was noted that the gloves smelled strongly of gasoline. Now you might be wondering, how did police catch up with Cody Ballmer? The affidavit states, during the investigation, PSP Harrisburg was contacted by a female who advised that her ex-paramore, Cody Ballmer, was the individual responsible

for setting the fire at the governor's residence. When asked why this individual believed Balmer set the fire, this individual related Balmer confessed to the act and wanted her to call police to turn him in. A short time later, a member of the Pennsylvania State Police was approached outside department headquarters located on Elmerton Avenue by a male identified as Cody Balmer. Balmer informed the trooper he was responsible for the fire in the governor's residence and wished to turn himself in. Balmer was then transported to PSP Harrisburg, where he was interviewed in relation to the investigation. Now, police say they advised

Balmer of his rights and that he confessed to the attack on the governor's mansion. The affidavit states, Balmer admitted to harboring hatred toward Governor Shapiro. He advised on the date in question he removed gasoline from a lawnmower and poured it into Heineken bottles he found at his residence. Balmer advised he walked for approximately one hour from his residence to the governor's residence with the intention of throwing his homemade Molotov cocktails into the residence. Balmer admitted that once at the residence, he scaled the perimeter fence, broke two windows with a hammer, and threw the Molotov cocktails inside. Now, police said Balmer told them he knew the governor and his family might be at the mansion and that they could be hurt and that his actions would have negative consequences.

And police say that Balmer was willing to do more. Balmer was asked specifically what he would have done if Governor Shapiro found him inside of his residence, to which he advised he would have beaten him with his hammer. Police said they later found Balmer's clothing that he was wearing during the attack. He is awaiting his arraignment in custody at the Dauphin County Prison. A search of his Facebook account showed a 2021 photo that looked like he wasn't a big fan of Joe Biden, saying he owes me two grand. It's not clear what his political affiliation is because he seemed to take shots at both sides in a 2020 post. Ballmer pleaded guilty to forgery and theft in 2015 and another forgery charge in 2016, and he has an open assault case from 2023.

But this past weekend, thanks to swift action of the Pennsylvania State Police, this senseless crime did not harm the governor or his family. The governor reminds everyone. I'm not fearful. I'm obviously emotional. I'm worried about my family. I want my kids to be okay. When we were in the state dining room last night, gathered with the community and family and friends, we told the story of Passover. And it's a story of going from bondage, from slavery into freedom. I think it's an important story, both literally and figuratively, to tell. And I refuse to be trapped by the bondage that someone attempts to put on me by attacking us as they did here last night.

I refuse to let anyone who had evil intentions like that stop me from doing the work that I love, stop me from being a leader of this Commonwealth and looking out for all Pennsylvanians. I will not be deterred in my work and I will not be afraid to do that work. So I want to bring in Matt Mangino. He is a former prosecutor who lives in Pennsylvania. He also has been to the governor's mansion. So, Matt, I want to know your first reaction

when you heard about what happened. I mean, I was stunned when I heard that this had happened. Yeah, it was shocking, Anjanette, to hear that that someone would be bold enough to try to commit or to actually commit an arson at the governor's mansion. Well, the governor and his family are at home. Yeah, no doubt. So this this guy, Cody Balmer, he is the one charged with attempted murder. He's got two Heineken bottles with gasoline in them. He puts these things in there, starts this fire, and then he takes off. And then apparently his girlfriend or ex-girlfriend calls and tells the police he did it. Then he apparently turns himself in and says, yeah, I did it. Seems very odd. Your thoughts on this, because it seems like this guy's got some potential major issues. Yeah. You know, that whole scenario is really strange. You know, first of all, you know, the idea that someone could breach the fence that surrounds the governor's mansion with Molotov cocktails

and be able to not only use the Molotov cocktail by throwing it through the window, but also entering the governor's mansion in the state dining room and using another Molotov cocktail there to cause, you know, terrible damage. You know, the most recent reports that I've read also indicate that this guy said he had a hammer with him. And when he entered the home, if he would have saw the governor, his intent was to beat him with the hammer. You know, so these are very, very troubling issues that, you know, certainly we want to know, number one, the reason why, you know, that I've read just generally that he had some disdain for the governor. But that's a great deal of disdain that you would go there knowing that he and his family most likely are there and start this fire at 2 a.m. in the morning. Yeah, most definitely. And I think you raise a very important question. I mean, he had a security

detail there, the governor did. How on earth does this guy get over? How does he get over there and breach the property? That's a question that we need answered. But the level of disdain, I mean, what's going on there? Because that seems to me, you know, he apparently had some disdain for Joe Biden, according to some stuff on his Facebook and stuff like that. But what is going on with this guy? I mean, because the governor, thank God, got out with his family and they weren't hurt. But we got to figure out what's going on with this guy. Well, right. And, you know, the district attorney in Dauphin County, which is Harrisburg, the state capital, you know, has indicated that he's going to look at this further as a potential hate crime.

Because because don't forget, this is Passover. Governor Shapiro just had Passover dinner with his family and friends. He's Jewish. And this individual comes there at 2 a.m. after the party has ended and attempts to harm the governor and harm his family. So in Pennsylvania, it's called the Ethnic Intimidation Act, and it's an act of violence that tries to intimidate somebody based on religion in this situation. So I'm sure that's going to be examined as well here. But there are serious charges, attempted murder, terrorism, which is using violence to try to intimidate an official or to influence some government action. So, you know, Pennsylvania has these statutes available, and I'm sure

the ethnic intimidation statute is going to be looked at very closely as well. You have been to the governor's mansion before. So talk to us a little bit about, you said you've been there for state dinners, et cetera. So talk to me a little bit about what it's like to go there. Obviously it's a very fancy place, but you've probably been in, have you been into the room where this fire was set? Yes. I looked at the news reports and some photographs today, and it appears that the fire was set in the state dining room where the governor would normally have, you know, dinners for invited guests. And, you know, that's what surprised me, Anjanette, is that, you know, I know security is very tight there and that the state police guard the governor and the governor's family.

And they're there 24 hours. You know, so so in a sense, and I know Governor Shapiro had went out of his way to thank the state police and other first responders who took care of this matter so quickly and, you know, protected him and his family. And I certainly appreciate that. But I think it begs the question, how does somebody get over the wall, get over the fence, get to the house, get into the house, start a fire, and then be able to get out and scale the wall again? You know, I'm sure that the Pennsylvania State Police are concerned about

this and they're going to look through their policies and their procedures and how they react to things and what amount of security they have. I'm sure this is something that's going to be a learning process for the state police as well. But it is shocking that it could happen, you know, with the governor in the residence at the time with his family. Do you anticipate federal charges being filed in this case? Well, you know, that's a possibility as well because of the, I guess, you know, it's going to, it's going to take some analysis of what prompted this individual to do what he did. The federal government could become involved in this.

Fran Chardo, the district attorney in Dauphin County, is very competent and has been a district attorney there for a while and was an assistant district attorney for a long time. So that office is well suited to proceed with this prosecution, whether it's terrorism, which has already been charged, or ethnic intimidation and other factors. So I don't think the state has any problem proceeding with this case and effectively prosecuting it. But, you know, the federal government, I'm sure, is always there to lend a hand if, in fact, that's needed. Well, we'll keep an eye on it and see where it goes. Just really disturbing. Matt Mangino, thank you so much. Thank you, Anjanette. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix.

I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.