news site PennLive<\/a>, say Balmer called 911 early Sunday after the fire and said Shapiro, who is Jewish, needs to know he \u201cwill not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.\u201d\n <\/p>\n\n Balmer also told 911 operators Shapiro needed to \u201cstop having my friends killed,\u201d and that \u201cour people have been put through too much by that monster,\u201d the documents say.\n <\/p>\n
\n The release of the warrants come as authorities continue to probe the 38-year-old suspect\u2019s background in search for a motive. Law enforcement officials have not conclusively said Balmer\u2019s alleged attack was motivated by hate or antisemitism, though the Dauphin County district attorney has indicated investigators are looking at that possibility.\n <\/p>\n
\n One source familiar with the investigation told CNN earlier this week investigators believe mental health issues may be a factor: Officials were struck by how casual and relaxed the suspect was throughout the ordeal, the source said. At that time, the source said there was not yet an indication antisemitism was a factor in the incident but the investigation into Balmer and his motives remained ongoing.\n <\/p>\n
\n But the alleged statements to 911 demonstrate \u201cBalmer\u2019s political motivation for his conduct,\u201d police wrote. Collectively, the warrants indicate authorities have seized several smartphones, a laptop and a buccal swab containing a sample of Balmer\u2019s DNA.\n <\/p>\n
\n Asked Wednesday about the suspect\u2019s alleged statements, Shapiro told reporters he did not have a response, and that it was up to the district attorney\u2019s office to identify the motive behind the incident.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cIt\u2019s disturbing, but it shows a focus and a fearlessness \u2013 he wasn\u2019t concerned about being captured \u2013 and a focus on Gov. Shapiro,\u201d Dauphin County District Attorney Francis Chardo told CNN on Wednesday. Asked whether the governor\u2019s religion was a motivating factor for the suspect, Chardo said, \u201cI can\u2019t say it was the sole factor, but it seems that it factored into his decision making.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Still, Chardo indicated he does not plan to pursue \u201cethnic intimidation\u201d charges, noting they would increase the grade of the alleged crime by one \u2013 but that the five most serious charges being brought against Balmer are all first-degree felonies.\n <\/p>\n
\n The suspect has been charged with attempted homicide, aggravated arson, terrorism and other crimes.\n <\/p>\n
\n The chief public defender of Dauphin County, which is representing Balmer, said in a statement Wednesday, \u201cThe allegations, if true, demonstrate the devastating consequences of severe mental illness.\u201d She declined further comment beyond noting Balmer\u2019s next court appearance would be postponed so his attorneys could determine \u201chis competency to stand trial.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n According to PennLive, one warrant notes Balmer\u2019s \u201cintonation and cadence\u201d during his call to 911 sounded like he was \u201cpossibly reading from a script.\u201d CNN has not reviewed that document.\n <\/p>\n
\n The US Justice Department is assisting with the investigation, Attorney General Pam Bondi said at a news conference Wednesday, where she called the fire \u201cabsolutely horrific\u201d and indicated she believed the suspect\u2019s goal was to harm the governor.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI firmly believe that they wanted to kill him,\u201d Bondi said.\n <\/p>\n
\n Shapiro, who just hours before the attack was celebrating Passover with his family, highlighted at a news conference Sunday his pride in his Jewish faith, saying, \u201cif 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.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Wednesday, the governor thanked well-wishers for the messages of support his family received in the days since the fire. He\u2019s heard from every living former governor of Pennsylvania, he said \u2014 but he has not heard from President Donald Trump.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cMy focus has been on being a good dad, a good husband and a good governor, in that order,\u201d he said, noting he and first lady Lori Shapiro had been doing their best to answer questions from their four children.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cBe honest with them, tell them what we know and also tell them what we don\u2019t know, and to let them know that they\u2019re safe and they\u2019re going to be OK, and it\u2019s OK to feel a lot of different things,\u201d Shapiro said. \u201cAnd it\u2019s OK to not be OK, also.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Balmer has faced personal and financial turmoil<\/a> in recent years \u2013 including allegations that he assaulted his wife and young children amid a suicide attempt.\n <\/p>\n\n Balmer shared Facebook posts critical of former President Joe Biden, but doesn\u2019t appear to have mentioned Shapiro, also a Democrat. In an interview with police, Balmer admitted to \u201charboring hatred\u201d toward Shapiro, and said he would have beaten the governor with a hammer if found during the attack, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n Balmer is a registered voter in Pennsylvania but is not affiliated with a political party, according to state records. On his Facebook account, he has made multiple posts since 2021 that are critical of Biden.\n <\/p>\n
\n A post from January 2021 says in part, \u201cBiden supporters shouldn\u2019t exist. Where were you his first run? Well aware of the trash he is.\u201d Another post from the same month reads in part, \u201cRIP Joe Biden\u2026.. Whoops that\u2019s in May, #notmypresidenteither.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n In September 2021, Balmer posted a meme criticizing Biden\u2019s handling of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. The meme shows Biden in a car with text that reads, \u201cGet in, loser. We\u2019re leaving Afghanistan.\u201d The next image shows the former president appearing to drive off with text that says \u201c*Drives off without you*.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n In June 2022, Balmer shared on Facebook what appears to be a photo of a needlepoint illustration of a flaming Molotov cocktail \u2013 the same weapon authorities say he used to start the fires at Shapiro\u2019s residence.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cBe the light you want to see in the world,\u201d the original image declared.\n <\/p>\n
\n CNN\u2019s Josh Campbell, Zoe Sottile and Hannah Rabinowitz contributed to this report.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CNN \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 Cody Balmer, the man accused of setting fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s residence, told 911…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[4846,28,30,29],"class_list":["post-5283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-hnk","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}