(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wants Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence as a possible antisemitic hate crime.
“While the local district attorney has not yet filed hate-crime charges, he acknowledged that Governor Shapiro’s religion appears to have factored into the suspect’s decisions,” Schumer wrote in a letter to Bondi on Thursday. “Our federal authorities must bring the full weight of our civil-rights laws to bear in examining this matter. No person or public official should be targeted because of their faith, and no community should wonder whether such acts will be met with silence.”
“I appreciate your strong condemnation of the attack and urge you to ensure that the federal government does everything in its power to pursue justice and uphold the fundamental values of religious freedom and public safety,” Schumer added. “I look forward to your response and to the Justice Department’s continued vigilance in the face of antisemitic violence.”
The fire at the governor’s residence was reported at about 2 a.m. ET Sunday and the family was safely evacuated. The attack occurred hours after the Shapiro family hosted more than two dozen people for the first night of Passover.
Investigators have not released a motive, but search warrants provide the most direct indication of why suspect Cody Balmer allegedly hopped a fence at the governor’s mansion, broke windows and hurled inside Molotov cocktails police said he made from beer bottles and gasoline.
Balmer, 38, called 911 less than an hour after the attack, identified himself and told the call-taker that he will not take part in Shapiro’s plans “for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” a search warrant said. Balmer added that Shapiro needed to “stop having my friends killed.”
“Our people have been put through too much by that monster,” Balmer said, according to the document.
After turning himself in, Balmer allegedly told police he would have attacked Shapiro with a hammer if he happened upon the governor inside the residence, according to court documents.
Balmer faces eight criminal charges, including attempted murder, terrorism and aggravated arson. Prosecutors at this time have not invoked a hate crime law, which in Pennsylvania is known as ethnic intimidation.
Attorney General Pam Bondi strongly condemned the attack in remarks at the Department of Justice on Wednesday, but she declined to label the act “domestic terrorism” or commit to opening a separate federal case against the suspect.
“It is absolutely horrific what happened to him,” Bondi said. “We have been praying for Josh, for his family. Those photos, it was horrible. I firmly believe that they wanted to kill him. … We are working with state authorities to do — it’s now a pending investigation — anything we can to help convict the person that did this and keep them behind bars as long as possible.”
Bondi did not answer a direct question from a reporter about whether she would label the action “domestic terrorism,” as she has repeatedly described the wave of attacks carried out on Teslas and dealerships around the country in recent months.
“Prosecutors will ultimately determine what motivated this,” Shapiro told reporters at the opening of a new Hershey’s Chocolate processing facility in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “The district attorney and the Department of Justice can comment on that further.”
When asked by a reporter if he wants hate crime charges filed, Shapiro said that’s a decision for the district attorney and the Department of Justice.
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