Arson attack probe at Pennsylvania governor's mansion looking into suspect's hatred of Josh Shapiro

HERSHEY, Pa. (AP) — Authorities investigating why a man set fire to Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s official residence are probing whether the suspect was motivated by the Democrat's Jewish faith or positions on Israel’s war in Gaza.

Police have said that Cody Balmer of Harrisburg harbored hatred toward Shapiro. Several search warrants released Wednesday offer the first details about a potential motive for the arson attack early Sunday in a room where only hours earlier Shapiro and his family celebrated Passover with members of the Jewish community.

Balmer called 911 less than an hour after the fire erupted, promised a confession and talked about Palestinians being killed, police wrote in search warrants.

Exactly what the man was trying to say and who he was referencing isn’t clear from the partial quotations included in the search warrants. Police quoted Balmer as saying “our people have been put through too much by that monster.” Balmer also “related that Governor Josh SHAPIRO needs to know that he ‘...will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,’” police wrote.

During a police interview after turning himself in, Balmer “admitted to harboring hatred towards Governor Shapiro,” according to a police affidavit that did not expand on that point. Police obtained search warrants for Balmer’s electronic devices and a storage locker seeking any writings or notes that contain “the name of Josh Shapiro (or a) reference to Palestine, Gaza, Israel or the current conflict in Gaza.”

Shapiro declined to talk about a motive (backslash)Wednesday, saying prosecutors will ultimately determine what prompted the attack. “It’s not for me to answer that,” he said.

The governor has been publicly critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the nature of Israel’s military action in Gaza, but also has backed the country's right to defend itself from Hamas.

Balmer, 38, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder but did not believe the assessment, his brother, Dan Balmer, told The Associated Press. He said he twice helped Cody get treatment at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute.

In court on Monday, Balmer denied having any mental illness and described himself as an unemployed welder with no income or savings. A judge denied bail and ordered him held on charges including attempted homicide, terrorism and arson. He did not enter a plea.

Dauphin County chief public defender Mary Klatt said in a statement that a preliminary hearing would be delayed “for the purpose of determining his competency to stand trial” and that Balmer will be represented by a team of attorneys “due to the complexity of this case.”

“The allegations, if true, demonstrate the devastating consequences of severe mental illness," Klatt said.

Balmer told police he planned to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he encountered him after breaking into the building, according to court documents filed in this latest case of violence against political figures in the U.S.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she spoke with Shapiro. She described the arson as “absolutely horrific” and said she believes the alleged culprit “wanted to kill him.”

Federal authorities are working with state law enforcement and doing “anything we can to help convict the person who did this,” she added.

State police announced that an independent, third-party expert will assess risks and vulnerability of the governor’s official residence. Shapiro said steps will be taken to strengthen safety systems while adding he has faith in his security team and state police.

Dan Balmer said his brother had displayed concerning behavior, including the night before the fire, when he flipped over a table at the home where Cody Balmer lived with their parents.

A search warrant says he scaled a nearly 7-foot-high (2-meter-high) security fence, eluded police, smashed a window with a hammer and tossed a lit beer bottle filled with gasoline into the piano room. Then, he broke a second window, climbed inside the state dining room and remained inside for about a minute, lighting a second Molotov cocktail before kicking open a door and fleeing, the warrant says.

Shapiro said he, his wife, their four children and another family celebrated Passover on Saturday night and then were awakened by state troopers pounding on their doors and forced to evacuate at about 2 a.m. Firefighters extinguished the fire and no one was injured.

The governor said he and his wife have had many conversations with their children since the attack.

“It’s very hard as a parent, to answer to children, like why does this stuff happen,” he said. “Why are there people out there that want to do harm to others? Those are hard questions to answer for kids.”

This story was first published on Apr. 16, 2025. It was updated on Apr. 18, 2025 to correct where the search warrants placed quotation marks in a statement attributed to the suspect during a 911 call.

Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Bruce Shipkowski in Toms River, New Jersey, and Eric Tucker in Washington contributed.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro takes part in a ribbon cutting ceremony the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro visits the Hershey Company's new manufacturing plant in Hershey, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

This image provided by Commonwealth Media Services shows damage after a fire at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside on Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (Commonwealth Media Services via AP)

This image provided by Commonwealth Media Services shows damage after a fire at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside on Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (Commonwealth Media Services via AP)

This image provided by Commonwealth Media Services shows damage after a fire at the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion while Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family slept inside on Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (Commonwealth Media Services via AP)

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro pauses during a news conference at the governor's official residence discussing the alleged arson that forced him, his family and guests to flee in the middle of the night on the Jewish holiday of Passover, Sunday, Apr. 13, 2025, in Harrisburg, Pa. (AP Photo/Marc Levy)

WASHINGTON (AP) —

American employers added a better-than-expected 177,000 jobs in April as the job market showed resilience in the face of President Donald Trump's trade wars.

Hiring was down slightly from a revised 185,000 in March and came in above economists’ expectations for a modest 135,000. The unemployment rate remained at a low 4.2%, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Trump’s aggressive and unpredictable policies – including massive import taxes – have clouded the outlook for the economy and the job market and raised fears that the American economy is headed toward recession.

But Friday's report showed the job market remains solid. “The labor market refuses to buckle in the face of trade war uncertainty,’’ Christopher Rupkey, chief economist at fwdbonds, a financial markets research firm. “Politicians can count their lucky stars that companies are holding on to their workers despite the storm clouds forming that could slow the economy further in the second half of the year.’’

Transportation and warehousing companies added 29,000 jobs last month, suggesting that companies have been stocking up before essential, imported goods are hit with a wave of new tariffs, driving prices higher. Healthcare companies added nearly 51,000 jobs and bars, restaurants almost 17,000 and construction firms 11,000. Factories lost 1,000 jobs.

Labor Department revisions shaved 58,000 jobs from February and March payrolls.

Average hourly earnings ticked up 0.2% from March and 3.8% from a year ago, nearing the 3.5% that economists view as consistent with the 2% inflation the Federal Reserve wants to see.

The report showed that 518,000 people entered the labor force, and the percentage of those working or looking for work ticked up slightly.

Trump’s massive taxes on imports to the U.S. are likely to raise costs for Americans and American businesses that depend on supplies from overseas. They also threaten to slow economic growth. His immigration crackdown threatens to make it more difficult for hotels, restaurants and construction firms to fill job openings. By purging federal workers and cancelling federal contracts, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency risks wiping out jobs inside the government and out.

Trump’s policies have shaken financial markets and frightened consumers. The Conference Board, a business group, reported Tuesday that Americans’ confidence in the economy fell for the fifth straight month to the lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Still, Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, called the jobs report “reassuringly normal. The fears of a softer labor market due to tariff uncertainty went unrealized last month ... There are signs that businesses are reining in plans for hiring and capital spending and that consumers are turning more cautious toward discretionary spending.’’

But Adams noted that those cautious signs come from surveys of businesses and consumers and have not showed up so far in actual economic data.

American workers have at least one thing going for them. Despite the uncertainty about fallout from Trump’s policies, many employers don’t want to risk letting employees go – not after seeing how hard it was to bring people back from the massive but short-lived layoffs of the 2020 COVID-19 recession.

“They laid millions of these people off, and they had a hell of a time getting them back to work,’’ Boston College economist Brian Bethune said before Friday's report came out. "So for now, the unemployment rate and the number of people filing claims for jobless benefits every week remain low by historical standards.

The federal government’s workforce fell by 9,000 on top of 17,000 job losses in February and March, Still, the full effect of Musk's DOGE cuts may not be showing up yet. For one thing, Bethune noted, job cuts orders by the billionaire’s DOGE are still being challenged in court. For another, some of those leaving federal agencies were forced into early retirement and don’t show up in the Labor Department’s count of the unemployed.

After the jobs numbers were released, Trump repeated his call for the Federal Reserve to lower its benchmark short-term interest rate, which it raised to combat inflation. Trump said on social media platform Truth Social that there is “NO INFLATION” and “employment strong.”

Yet as long as the job market remains healthy, the Fed will likely stay on the sidelines as it takes time to evaluate the impact of tariffs. Fed chair Jerome Powell has underscored that the duties are likely to push up prices in the coming months, making the central bank wary of the potential for higher inflation.

The Fed typically fights inflation with higher interest rates, so it is unlikely to cut its key short-term rate anytime soon. It might change course and reduce rates if layoffs spiked and unemployment rose, but Friday’s report suggests that isn’t happening yet.

AP Economics Writer Christopher Rugaber contributed to this story.

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