Political violence flared again in Pennsylvania on Sunday in another troubling example of an apparent nutjob who seemingly imbibed the leftist paradigm that legitimizes the use of force.
Cody Balmer — the Harrisburg man accused of torching the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Gov. Josh Shapiro, his family, and some guests slept inside — was charged Sunday with terrorism, attempted homicide, aggravated arson, and other related charges, according to a Pennsylvania State Police criminal complaint.
State police say Balmer was captured on several security cameras, and a woman contacted police and said that “her ex-paramour, Cody Balmer [38] was the individual responsible for setting the fire.” She told police he confessed to her and “wanted her to call police to turn him in.” Soon, he was outside police headquarters where he approached a state trooper and turned himself in, the complaint said.
Balmer told police he put gasoline from his lawnmower into two beer bottles and carried these homemade Molotov cocktails and a sledgehammer from his house, on a nearly four-mile walk through Harrisburg, to the mansion. Security cameras show he scaled the fence, broke a window, threw one bottle into the piano room, then broke another window, went inside, and deployed the second one to burn the dining room.
Balmer told police he knew it was possible Shapiro could be inside the mansion and might get injured, and when asked what he would have done if Shapiro had caught Balmer inside the home, Balmer “advised he would have beaten him with his hammer,” the complaint said. “During the interview, Balmer admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro.”
“This type of violence is not OK,” Shapiro said in a press conference on Sunday, and he is right. But this type of violence is celebrated by Democrats and their left-wing media.
Hellbound and Down 