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A suspect accused of setting fireplace to a Mississippi synagogue as soon as bombed by the Ku Klux Klan admitted he focused the constructing as a result of it’s a Jewish home of worship and was became police after a laughing confession to his father, the FBI stated Monday.
Stephen Pittman, 19, was charged in federal court docket with maliciously damaging or destroying a constructing by fireplace or explosive in reference to the weekend arson at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson.
In accordance with an FBI affidavit, Pittman admitted to lighting the hearth contained in the synagogue, referring to it as “the synagogue of Devil.” Authorities stated Pittman’s father contacted the FBI after he noticed burns on Pittman’s ankles, fingers and face, and listening to his son confess to setting the constructing on fireplace.
“Pittman laughed as he informed his father what he did and stated he lastly acquired them,” the FBI stated within the doc, in keeping with WLBT-TV.
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This photograph supplied by Beth Israel Congregation exhibits harm sustained throughout a fireplace, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, at Beth Israel Congregation, in Jackson, Miss. (Beth Israel Congregation through AP)
Pittman made his first look Monday in U.S. District Court through video from a hospital mattress, the place each of his fingers had been visibly bandaged. A public defender was appointed to characterize him.
Prosecutors stated Pittman faces 5 to twenty years in jail if convicted. When the decide suggested him of his rights, Pittman responded, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Providers on the synagogue had been suspended indefinitely following the hearth. (Beth Israel)
Pittman informed the decide he’s a highschool graduate who accomplished three semesters of school. He’s scheduled to return to court docket on Jan. 20 for a preliminary and detention listening to.
The fire broke out shortly after 3 a.m. Saturday. No congregants or firefighters had been injured, however the blaze prompted in depth harm to the synagogue’s library and administrative workplaces.
Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson is the state’s largest synagogue. No congregants had been injured, officers stated. (Beth Israel)
Safety footage launched by the congregation exhibits a masked, hooded particular person pouring liquid from a fuel can onto the ground and a sofa contained in the constructing’s foyer. Investigators stated Pittman stopped at a fuel station beforehand to purchase gasoline and eliminated his automobile’s license plate. He allegedly used an ax to interrupt a window, poured gas contained in the synagogue and ignited it with a torch lighter.
The affidavit stated Pittman texted his father a photograph of the synagogue earlier than the fire, writing, “There’s a furnace within the again.” When his father urged him to return house, Pittman allegedly replied that he was “due for a homerun” and stated, “I did my analysis.”
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Investigators later recovered a burned cellphone believed to belong to Pittman, and seized a hand torch discovered by a congregant.
Boards cowl the charred stays of the Beth Israel Congregation library, which was set on fireplace early Saturday morning, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, in Jackson, Mississippi. (AP Picture / Sophie Bates)
5 Torah scrolls contained in the sanctuary had been being evaluated for smoke harm. Two Torahs saved within the synagogue’s library had been destroyed. One other Torah that survived the Holocaust was protected behind glass and was not broken, the congregation stated.
The 165-year-old synagogue is the biggest one within the state and was beforehand bombed by the Ku Klux Klan within the Sixties.
“This information places a face and title to this tragedy, however doesn’t change our resolve to proudly — even defiantly — proceed Jewish life in Jackson within the face of hatred,” Beth Israel Congregation stated in an announcement.
Lawyer Normal Pam Bondi stated in an announcement by means of the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the Southern District of Mississippi that she has directed prosecutors to hunt “extreme penalties.”
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“This disgusting act of anti-Semitic violence has no place in our nation, and in contrast to the prior administration, this Division of Justice is not going to let anti-Semitism fester and flourish,” Bondi stated.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
