Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during a press conference outside of the Governor's Mansion after a portion of the property was damaged in an arson fire on April 13, 2025 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Matthew Hatcher)

Photo of Pennsylvania arson suspect altered to add anti-Trump expletive

Published on April 16, 2025 at 18:44
4 min read
By Bill MCCARTHY, AFP USA

After police named a suspect in the April 13, 2025 arson attack at the official residence of Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, social media users scoured the man's digital footprint for evidence of his political leanings and motive. But online claims that Cody Balmer once posted a photo with an explicit message criticizing President Donald Trump are false; the image making the rounds is altered, with the original featuring no such text.

"This is the democrat who set Governor Shapiro's house on fire," says an April 13, 2025 post on X. "I have no sympathy for Governor Shapiro. He chose to fight for the democrat party that encourages democrats to be terrorists."

The post comes from Philip Anderson, a conservative influencer who was charged in the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol and later pardoned by Trump.

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Screenshot from X taken April 15, 2025

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The image appears to show an April 16, 2020 Facebook post from a Cody Balmer that includes a photo of a man wearing a mask with a cigarette poking through it. Red text across the picture says: "Fuck Trump."

Similar posts spread the image across X and other platforms after authorities arrested Cody A. Balmer, 38 and from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for allegedly setting fire to the Georgian-style Harrisburg mansion that is home to the prominent Democratic politician and his family.

Prosecutors charged Balmer a day later with attempted criminal homicide and seven other offenses -- including terrorism affecting the government and prowling at nighttime -- for what they said was an attack using "homemade Molotov cocktails."

Court records say Balmer told police he harbored "hatred" for Shapiro, who is Jewish and had spent the evening of the attack marking the first night of the Passover holiday with friends and family (archived here).

A police search warrant for Balmer's devices obtained by local news outlet PennLive also reportedly said Balmer targeted Shapiro "based upon perceived injustices to the people of Palestine." Following the October 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, Shaprio joined multiple Pennsylvania lawmakers in expressing support for Israel.

AFP found a Facebook profile for a Cody Balmer that appears to authentically belong to the suspect, and determined the image purporting to show him writing "Fuck Trump" is a fake.

The birthday listed on the account matches the date of birth enumerated in the criminal complaint for Balmer, and the pictures on the profile appear to show the same man as the booking photo released by police (archived here and here).

The profile also says Balmer was a mechanic -- a detail corroborated by a local auto repair shop, which posted that the suspect was a "former employee."

On April 16, 2020, the user did post a photo of himself smoking a cigarette through a facial covering -- matching the image being shared online. The original includes no expletive in red text mentioning Trump, however.

Screenshot from Facebook taken April 15, 2025

The Facebook account has not posted since 2023. Its feed is full of posts expressing anti-government sentiment, misogynistic or demeaning messages about women, and memes, according to AFP's review of its activity over the years leading up to the arson attack.

The political posts on the page do not paint a coherent picture of someone with a clear party alignment but instead include criticisms of both Republican President Trump and former Democratic president Joe Biden, as well as other politicians, figures and policy positions.