(Headline USA) Investigators worked Tuesday to uncover the motive behind an arson fire over the weekend at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s mansion
But according to Balmer’s mother, there may not have been a coherent motive. The mother said her son is simply mentally ill, and was off his medication. Balmer’s mother told The Associated Press on Monday that she had made calls in recent days about his mental health issues, but “nobody would help.”
Balmer, 38, of Harrisburg, was denied bail Monday as he faced charges including attempted homicide, terrorism and arson. He did not enter a plea to the charges. In court, Balmer insisted that he did not suffer from any mental illness.
He had told police he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he encountered him after breaking into the building, according to court documents.
Authorities said Balmer hopped over a nearly 7-foot-high iron security fence surrounding the property, eluded officers who became aware of the breach and forcibly entered the residence before setting it on fire.
Lt. Col. George Bivens said Balmer had a homemade incendiary device — he wouldn’t describe what kind — and appeared to have carefully planned the attack. He was inside the residence for about a minute before he escaped, Bivens said.
Bivens said Balmer was later arrested in the area.
The fire badly damaged the inside of the large room that is often used for entertaining crowds and art displays. Large west- and south-facing windows were completely missing their glass panes, shattered glass littered the pathways and doors stood ajar amid signs of charring. Window panes and brick around doors and windows were blackened and charred.
Inside, a charred piano, tables, walls, metal buffet serving dishes and more could be seen through broken windows and fire-blackened doors.
The Harrisburg Bureau of Fire was called to the residence and put out the fire at the Susquehanna Riverfront mansion. Shapiro and his family had been sleeping in a different
Yellow tape cordoned off an alleyway on the residence’s south side, where investigators dogs outside the iron security fence and sawed off a section from the top of the security fence. They wrapped it in heavy black plastic and took it away in a vehicle.
Shapiro splits his time between the mansion that has housed governors since it was built in the 1960s and a home in Abington, about 100 miles east. He posted a photograph on social media Saturday of the family’s Passover Seder table at the residence.
Adapted from reporting by the Associated Press
