The man suspected in the arson attack on Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) was already set to appear in court over domestic violence charges, reported CNN on Monday.
Cody Balmer, a 38-year-old car mechanic, "faces charges of attempted homicide, aggravated arson, terrorism and other crimes after police say he climbed over a fence, broke into the governor’s mansion and set the fire with a homemade Molotov cocktail in the early hours of Sunday morning," noted the report.
It turns out he was also facing "allegations that he assaulted his wife and young children amid a suicide attempt."
Balmer also experienced a number of other challenges in his life, including a foreclosure on a property he owns in Harrisburg and a custody battle with his wife over two of his children.
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"In January 2023, officers were dispatched to a home in Harrisburg to respond to a report of domestic violence. Balmer told officers he’d taken 'a bottle full of pills' in a suicide attempt and then gotten into a fight with his wife and 13-year-old son, who had stepped between them, according to an affidavit from the Penbrook Police Department," said the report. "His wife told police he’d hit the boy and punched her in the face and bit her hand. She also said Balmer elbowed his other 10-year-old son multiple times in the chest and 'stepped on his leg which had already previously been broken recently,' the affidavit states."
The motive for the arson attack remains unclear, noted the report, although Balmer has made social media posts attacking Democratic politicians and told police he was planning to beat Shapiro with a hammer — the same method used by the assailant who critically wounded former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in a home invasion two years ago.
Balmer's mother has described him as mentally ill and "off his meds," and says she tried to contact police to help him prior to the incident.
