Stephen Spencer Pittman, Madison, Mississippi man arrested setting Jackson synagogue on fire after referencing Jewish religious institution as the ‘synagogue of Satan.’ Suspect is avid Christian and baseball fanatic and honor roll student.
A 33-year-old man has admitted to starting a fire at a Mississippi synagogue on account of its ‘Jewish ties.’
Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, of Madison, Miss., was charged Monday with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive. In an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi on Monday, the FBI said the suspect confessed to lighting a fire inside the building ‘due to the building’s Jewish ties.’
Suspect referenced religious institution as ‘synagogue of Satan’
The weekend fire ripped through the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson shortly after 3 a.m. on Saturday. No congregants or firefighters were injured in the blaze. Security camera footage released Monday by the synagogue showed a masked and hooded person using a gas can to pour a liquid on the floor and a couch in the building’s lobby.
Beth Israel Congregation, founded in 1860, is one of Mississippi’s oldest Jewish institutions. The synagogue had been previously bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in 1967 for the then rabbi’s support of civil rights.
In an interview with law officers, Pittman referred to the synagogue as the ‘synagogue of Satan,’ according to an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi.
During that interview with representatives of the Jackson Fire Department and Hinds County Sheriff’s Office, Pittman ‘admitted to starting a fire inside the Beth Israel Congregation/ISJL building,’ the affidavit states.
Suspect laughed as he relayed to his father setting Jackson synagogue on fire
During his interview with investigators, Pittman said he stopped at a gas station on his way to the synagogue to purchase the gas used in the fire. He also took the license plate off of his vehicle at the gas station. He then used an ax to break out a window of the building, poured gas inside and used a torch lighter to start the fire, the affidavit states.
The FBI later recovered a burned cell phone believed to be Pittman’s, and recovered a hand torch a member of the congregation found and turned over to authorities.
The fire badly damaged the historic synagogue’s library and administrative offices. One Torah that survived the Holocaust was behind glass and was not damaged in the fire, according to the congregation. Five Torahs — the sacred scrolls with the text of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible — located inside the sanctuary were being assessed for smoke damage. Two Torahs inside the library, where the most severe damage was done, were destroyed, according to a synagogue representative.
Pittman’s arrest follows the suspect’s father contacted the FBI and saying that his son confessed to setting the building on fire, the affidavit states. Data on the suspect’s cell phone corroborated that information, the agent wrote.
The son ‘laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them,’ says the affidavit from Nicholas Amiano, an FBI agent in the Jackson division.
According to Mississippi Today, Steven Pittman was a ‘was a multi-year honor roll student and varsity baseball player at St. Joseph Catholic School in Madison.’
Honor rolls student, Christian and baseball fan
After graduating from St. Joseph in 2024, Pittman played baseball at Coahoma Community College. ‘I am blessed to announce I will be commuting to Coahoma Community College to play baseball,’ Pittman posted on X in 2023. ‘Thank you God and everyone who has helped me along the way! Go tigers!’ Pittman posted regularly on his X account, often about baseball and Christianity. Many posts pair videos of him practicing his swing in a batting cage with a captioned Bible verse.
‘Mississippi stands with the members of Beth Israel Congregation,’ said Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves in a released statement. ‘This heinous act will never be tolerated, and the perpetrator should face the full and solemn weight of their actions. I have directed the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to support our federal law enforcement partners in any manner necessary as they investigate this horrible situation and pursue state charges.’
It remained unclear if Pittman would now face additional ‘hate crime‘ charges after admitting to targeting the religious institution on account of its Jewish identity.
Pittman was scheduled to make an initial court appearance Monday afternoon.
