The man accused of torching a historic Mississippi Jewish temple branded it a “synagogue of Satan” and admitted he targeted it in an antisemitic attack, according to court docs.
Stephen Pittman told investigators that he deliberately set fire to Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, the FBI said in an affidavit filed Monday.
Stephen Pittman, the suspect in an arson fire at a historic Mississippi synagogue, admitted to targeting the house of worship because of its “Jewish ties.” Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Stephen Pittman was charged with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive.
Pittman was arrested within hours of the pre-dawn Saturday inferno, which left sections of Beth Israel gutted and several valuable Torahs damaged and destroyed.
Security footage from the synagogue captured a masked suspect dumping a can of gas across walls and furniture, and then sparking it with a lighter. The blaze ripped through the building’s library and administrative offices.
Pittman was arrested Saturday after his father found him covered in burns and notified police, court docs show.
The suspect confessed to lighting a fire inside, referring to the building as “the synagogue of Satan.” Beth Israel Congregation
The fire ripped through the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson on Saturday. AP
The fire badly damaged the 165-year-old synagogue’s library and administrative offices. Beth Israel Congregation
Damage sustained during a fire. AP
Flowers sit on the steps of an entryway at Beth Israel Congregation. Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images“Pittman laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them,” the affidavit read.
He also allegedly confessed the crime to his father in a series of bizarre texts where he seemed to brag about pulling it off.
“There’s a furnace in the back,” Pittman texted his father alongside a photo of the synagogue. “I did my research.”
“My plate is off … Hoodie is on … And they have the best cameras,” he added.
Caution tape and flowers cover the entrance to the Beth Israel Congregation following the fire. AP
Flowers sit on the steps of the entryway at the synagogue. Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
Caution tape blocks an entryway at Beth Israel Congregation synagogue. Ayrton Breckenridge/Clarion Ledger / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn ImagesPittman allegedly confessed to the crime as soon as he was taken into custody, telling police how he picked up gas on the way to the crime scene and then used an axe to break inside the synagogue.
A burned cellphone connected to Pittman was also allegedly found at the scene, court docs said.
A sign at the Beth Israel Congregation’s Holocaust memorial, which did not appear to be damaged. APBeth Israel is the center of Jackson’s small Jewish community, which is only several hundred people strong.
The synagogue was founded in 1860 and moved into its current building just over a hundred years later, in 1967.
Local Ku Klux Klan members bombed it that same year over its rabbi’s outspoken opposition to racism and segregation.
Jackson Mayor John Horhn called the latest attack an “act of terror.”
“Acts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred are attacks on Jackson as a whole and will be treated as acts of terror against residents’ safety and freedom to worship,” the mayor said in a statement.
Miraculously, a Torah that escaped the Holocaust survived the Saturday fire.
Pittman was charged with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or explosive.
