Arson at Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro's residence exposes potential security failures

Under the cover of darkness, a man "harboring hatred" toward Pennsylvania Gov.

Under the cover of darkness, a man "harboring hatred" toward Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro made a stunning breach of the sprawling grounds of the executive mansion in Harrisburg, police said.

Over several minutes early Sunday, the intruder evaded security, smashing through ground-floor windows with a hammer and torching two rooms with incendiary devices, before he disappeared back out over perimeter fencing. Had the man found the governor, police later said he told them, he would have attacked him.

The intruder's ability to break into the Governor's Residence and then flee — only for a suspect to be apprehended after he turned himself in hours later — exposes potential security gaps and calls into question how a breakdown in protocols seemingly occurred, former state law enforcement officials said. Police identified the suspect as Cody Balmer, 38.

Governor Josh Shapiro, left, surveys the damage to the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg on Sunday.Pennsylvania State Police"I was surprised, alarmed, and, quite frankly, I couldn't believe that happened," Glenn Walp, the state police commissioner in the 1990s under Gov. Bob Casey, said Monday after he learned about the incident, which included reports of a fire igniting around 2 a.m.

Hours earlier, Shapiro had posted on social media that he was having Passover dinner with his family in the residence's state dining room. That was the room damaged in what investigators say was an act of arson. No one was hurt.