The Pennsylvania police arrest after suspicious malicious fire at the Governor’s Mansion

The police say that a man was arrested and will face the accusation, including attempted murder, terrorism and attempted malicious fire, in a morning fire that seriously damaged the home of the governor of Pennsylvania and forced the governor Josh Shapiro and his family to flee quickly.

Sunday’s announcement came after Shapiro and his family were evacuated during the night by the residence of the official governor after someone set fire to the building. Shapiro told an afternoon press conference that he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family who had celebrated the Jewish Easter on Saturday were inside the house when they were awakened by the state soldiers.

Nobody was injured and the fire was extinct, according to the authorities.

The Pennsylvania State Police Colonel Christopher Paris identified the man in custody such as Cody Balmer, 38 years old, from Harrisburg, in Pennsylvania, Paris underlined in a press conference on Sunday afternoon that investigations continue.

Dauphin Francis Chardo’s district prosecutor said that the next accusations will include murder, terrorism, attempted fire and aggravated aggression attempts.

The authorities said that the suspicion climbed on a fence surrounding the property and entered the residence strongly before setting it on fire.

Police vice commissioner George Bivens said Balmer had a homemade incendiary device and he was able to circumvent the police, who knew it had been a violation.

“I’m obviously emotional,” Shapiro said at the press conference. “When we were in the state dining room last night, we told the story of Easter” and the story of the Jewish exodus from slavery, he said. “I refuse to be trapped by the slavery that someone tried to put me by attacking as they did last night.”

The State Police did not provide other details on the cause of the fire in the home of the Susquehanna river, but said it caused a “significant amount of damage” to a part of the residence. Shapiro and his family had slept in another part of the residence, said the police.

Shapiro, seen as a potential contender for the White House for the Democratic Party in 2028, said he had received help from the Department of Justice, FBI and the United States Prosecutor’s Office, as well as numerous support messages from governor companions and others.

The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was called in the residence and, while working to turn off the fire, the police evacuated the family from the residence safely, said Shapiro.

Sunday, the damage to fire was visible on the south side of the residence, mainly in a large room often used to entertain crazy and art display. The large windows addressed to the west were completely missing their glasses and the doors were in the middle of signs of carbonization.

On Sunday there was a police presence while the yellow ribbon isolated an alley, the investigators observed the damage inside and an officer led a dog out of an iron safety fence before investigators reported a section from the top of the safety fence on the south side of the residence. They wrapped him in heavy black plastic and took him away in a vehicle.

Shapiro is divided between the building that hosted governors since it was built in the 60s and a house in Abington, about 160 kilometers east. He published a photograph on social media on Saturday of the Seder Table of the Easter family in the residence.

The former Governor of Pennsylvania Mark Schweiker, a republican, defined the attack a “despicable act of cowardice” and said he hoped that the Pennsylvanians joined him and his wife in keeping the Shapiros in their prayers.

Former governor Tom Ridge, even republican, said that the images of the damage to the residence in which he lived for eight years with his family were “strain” and that the attack on the official residence was shocking.

“Anyone responsible for this attack – both for the Shapiro family and for our Commonwealth – must be taken to take into account,” said Ridge.