WILLIAMSPORT — The man accused of firebombing the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion in Harrisburg was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility after a 2023 domestic violence attack at his home in Lower Paxtang Twp.
That was revealed in court documents in Lycoming County related to Adrian Jones-Balmer, 34, obtaining a protection from abuse (PFA) order against her then-husband Cody A. Balmer, 38. The couple later divorced.
Balmer is charged with attempted homicide, aggravated arson and other counts in connection with the fire that forced the early Sunday morning evacuation of Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family.
Cody Balmer arrives for his arraignment Monday evening, April 14, 2025, at Judge Dale Klein’s office on Bretz Drive, Harrisburg. He’s been accused of firebombing the Governor’s Residence in Harrisburg with Josh Shapiro, his family and friends inside. (Dan Gleiter, PennLive.com)Dan Gleiter, PennLive.com
Jones-Balmer wrote in court records that she had split with Balmer because he had been verbally and emotionally abusive for years.
PFA applications filed in 2023 in Dauphin County and Lycoming County, gave this account:
The couple was separated in January 2023 when she said he became “very irate and aggressive” toward her because he did not like a comment she made about not wanting to pay him to babysit.
“Something I took as a lighthearted joke, he took very serious and spent days festering on it,” she wrote in the Dauphin County application.
Two days later, when she arrived at his home at 10 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2023, in Dauphin County to drop off their two children, he told her he didn’t want them because his custodial week with the kids started the next day.
She began leaving with her 4-year-old when he said “he didn’t want me to take her,” so Jones-Balmer said she left the kids with him and started driving back to her home in York. She made it up the road, where she stopped to get coffee, when she saw she had missed 10 phone calls. She called back and her son said the kids wanted to leave.
Jones-Balmer drove back to the home and said Cody met her outside, “yelling and using profanities.”
She told the kids to get in her vehicle and that they could return to get their belongings the next day. She also told the kids in front of Cody that they didn’t have to return to his home if they didn’t want to.
Once she said that she said he “attacked” her and when her son tried to intervene, he “began attacking them.”
Balmer punched one of the children in the face and in doing so his elbow hit the other child in the face, according to her claims and court records. Her then-estranged husband told her he had attempted to die by suicide.
Court records charging him with three counts of simple assault said he tried to kill himself by taking a bunch of pills. The charges also noted he stepped on one child’s previously broken ankle.
After that, he was involuntarily committed to mental health treatment.
The criminal charges that remain pending from this incident were filed following his release from a psychiatric facility, Jones-Balmer stated in a court document.
Her account in the court document also claimed Balmer strangled her but without a date, so it’s unclear if that happened on Jan. 29, 2023, or another date.
She accused him of constantly trying to fight the children and overusing physical punishment. He caused her to lose her home and job, a court document states.
A temporary PFA was issued on Dec. 29, 2023, and made permanent by Lycoming County Judge Ryan M. Tira on Jan. 12, 2024. It was good for a year and there is nothing in the court file indicating it was extended beyond January 2025.
The order prohibited Balmer from having any direct or indirect contact with Jones-Balmer and the children.
Communication between the two adults was limited to matters involving custody. They had joint custody at the time.
While the PFA was in effect, Balmer was prohibited from posting on social media any remark or images about his former wife and the children. Court records show Balmer represented himself in the PFA matters.
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On Monday, Balmer’s mother told PennLive she had been trying to get mental health assistance for her son, but could not get any because he didn’t volunteer for it. She called police as recently as Thursday, less than three days before the attack on the Governor’s Residence, but police said they could not involuntarily commit her son to a facility.
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