Teen charged for arson at Mississippi synagogue he targeted over building’s ‘Jewish ties’

Stephen Spencer Pittman, of Madison, Mississippi, is charged in a federal criminal complaint with arson and appeared in court Monday. According to an FBI affidavit obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show on Talk Radio 570 KVI, Pittman drove to the synagogue before dawn, purchased gasoline, and removed his vehicle’s license plates en route to the scene. Surveillance footage captured a hooded, masked individual inside the building shortly before the fire began, walking through the interior and pouring liquid from what appeared to be a gas container.

Pittman later admitted to authorities that he started the blaze over the synagogue's "Jewish ties," per CNN. The affidavit details that Pittman sent a photograph of the rear of the temple to his father shortly before the fire with troubling comments, including a message reading, “There’s a furnace in the back,” and later indicating he had “done his research.” After the fire, which broke out around 3 am, Pittman allegedly sustained burns to his face, hands, and ankles, injuries consistent with setting a gasoline-fueled blaze indoors, and went to the University of Mississippi Medical Center for treatment. His father, alarmed at the injuries and his son’s statements, contacted law enforcement and reported that Pittman had confessed.

At the scene, investigators later recovered a burned cellphone believed to belong to Pittman and a hand torch, corroborating elements of the affidavit. The affidavit further describes Pittman using an ax to break a window to gain entry before igniting the blaze with a hand torch after pouring gasoline and calling the congregation a “synagogue of Satan" in a phone call to his family.

The fire caused extensive structural and interior damage, destroying the synagogue’s library and administrative offices, and consuming ritual objects and Torah scrolls. Two Torahs stored in the library were destroyed, and others were damaged by smoke, though one scroll that survived the Holocaust and was kept behind glass remained intact.

Founded in 1860, Beth Israel Congregation is the oldest and largest synagogue in Mississippi and the only Jewish house of worship in Jackson. The congregation has endured violence before; in 1967, the Ku Klux Klan bombed the temple while the rabbi advocated for civil rights, and the current building was completed the same year. The Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life provides support to Jewish communities across 14 states, including religious school programming for dozens of congregations and traveling rabbinical services.

Special Agent in Charge Robert A. Eikhoff of the FBI’s Jackson Field Office said the case underscores the importance of protecting religious institutions. “Houses of worship are sacred,” Eikhoff said. “Citizens of Mississippi of all faiths and backgrounds have the right to worship free of violence and intimidation.”

Attorney General Pamela Bondi said the Justice Department would push for stiff punishment. “This disgusting act of anti-Semitic violence has no place in our country,” Bondi said, adding that she directed prosecutors to “seek severe penalties for this heinous act” and that the department remains committed to protecting Jewish Americans “from hatred.”

FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau would continue prioritizing the safety of Jewish communities. “Every American has a fundamental right to live and worship free from violence and fear. The FBI will never waver in our mission to protect Jewish communities from targeted anti-Semitic attacks.”

US Attorney JE Baxter Kruger for the Southern District of Mississippi called the alleged attack “disturbing and unacceptable,” saying his office would pursue the most serious charges supported by the evidence and prosecute the case “to the fullest extent of the law.”

If convicted on the federal arson charge, Pittman faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and up to 20 years.