JACKSON, Miss.—A suspect in an arson fire at a synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, was charged after the FBI said he admitted targeting the historic congregation because it is a Jewish house of worship.
Stephen Pittman was charged with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive, according to a federal charging record described by the FBI. The FBI said Pittman confessed to lighting a fire inside the building and used the phrase “the synagogue of Satan” in connection with the attack, in an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi.
The FBI also said Pittman’s father turned him in after observing burn marks on his son’s ankles, hands and face, and that Pittman had told him what he had done. The FBI said Pittman had texted his father a photo of the rear of the synagogue before the fire with the message, “There’s a furnace in the back.” The affidavit said Pittman replied to his father that he was due for a homerun and “I did my research.”
Pittman appeared Monday for a first appearance hearing in federal court, where a public defender was appointed. He attended via video conference call from a hospital bed, and both of his hands were visibly bandaged. At the hearing, Pittman told the judge he was a high school graduate and had three semesters of college, and when the judge read him his rights, Pittman said, “Jesus Christ is Lord.” Prosecutors said he could face five to 20 years in prison if convicted. A preliminary and detention hearing is scheduled for Jan. 20.
Prosecutors and the FBI described steps Pittman said he took before setting the fire. During an interview with investigators, Pittman said he stopped at a gas station on the way to the synagogue to purchase the gas used in the fire and took the license plate off his vehicle at the gas station. The FBI affidavit said Pittman used an ax to break out a window of the synagogue, poured gas inside and used a torch lighter to start the fire. The FBI later recovered a burned cellphone believed to be Pittman’s and took possession of a hand torch that a congregant had found.
The fire ripped through the Beth Israel Congregation shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday, and neither congregants nor firefighters were injured, according to the report. Security camera video released Monday by the synagogue showed a masked and hooded man using a gas can to pour liquid on the floor and a couch in the building’s lobby.
The weekend blaze badly damaged Beth Israel’s 165-year-old synagogue, including its library and administrative offices. The congregation said five Torahs located inside the sanctuary were being assessed for smoke damage. It said two Torahs inside the library, where the most severe damage was done, were destroyed, while one Torah that survived the Holocaust was kept behind glass and was not damaged in the fire.
After the attack, Beth Israel wrote that the news “puts a face and name to this tragedy” but does not change its resolve to “proudly — even defiantly — continue Jewish life in Jackson in the face of hatred,” according to a statement shared by the congregation. Attorney General Pam Bondi said she instructed prosecutors to seek “severe penalties,” the report said, citing a statement provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.
Beth Israel’s president, Zach Shemper, vowed to rebuild and said several churches offered their spaces for worship during reconstruction. Shemper attended Pittman’s court appearance Monday but did not comment afterward.
The Beth Israel congregation, founded in 1860 and moved to its current location in 1967, has a history of attacks tied to racism and antisemitism, Rabbi Gary Zola, who teaches American Jewish history, said in comments reported Monday. Zola said the synagogue was bombed by local Ku Klux Klan members not long after relocating, and that two months after that, the home of Rabbi Perry Nussbaum was bombed because of his outspoken opposition to segregation and racism. Zola said Nussbaum “had this strong, strong sense of justice.”