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A suspect in an arson fire at a Mississippi synagogue that was bombed by the Ku Klux Klan decades ago admitted to targeting the historic institution because it’s a Jewish house of worship and confessed what he had done to his father, the FBI said Monday.
Stephen Pittman was charged with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive. The 19-year-old suspect confessed to lighting a fire inside the Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, Miss. The suspect referred to the only Jewish place of worship in the state capital as “the synagogue of Satan,” according to an FBI affidavit filed in U.S. District Court in Mississippi on Monday.
At a first appearance hearing Monday in federal court, a public defender was appointed for Pittman, who attended via video conference call from a hospital bed. Both of his hands were visibly bandaged. Pittman told the judge that he was a high school graduate — the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson reported that he attended a Catholic high school in nearby Madison, Miss. — and had completed three semesters of college.
Prosecutors said he could face five to 20 years in prison if convicted. When the judge read him his rights, Pittman said, “Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Pittman is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary and detention hearing on Jan. 20.
Boards cover the charred remains of the Beth Israel Congregation library, on Monday. (Sophie Bates/The Associated Press)
Attorney General Pam Bondi said she has instructed prosecutors to seek “severe penalties,” according to a statement provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi.
“This news puts a face and name to this tragedy, but does not change our resolve to proudly —even defiantly — continue Jewish life in Jackson in the face of hatred,” the Beth Israel Congregation wrote in a statement.
Suspect’s father alerted police
No congregants or firefighters were injured in the fire, which started shortly after 3 a.m. local time on Saturday. 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 fire badly damaged the 165-year-old synagogue’s library and administrative offices. 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. One Torah that survived the Holocaust was behind glass and was not damaged in the fire, according to the congregation.
Zach Shemper, president of Beth Israel Congregation, enters the congregation’s synagogue on Saturday, hours after a fire damaged the house of worship. (Allen Siegler/Mississippi Today/The Associated Press)
The suspect’s father contacted the FBI and said his son had confessed to setting the building on fire. 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.”
His father had pleaded with his son to return home, but “Pittman replied back by saying he was due for a homerun and ‘I did my research,'” the affidavit said.
During an interview with investigators, Pittman said he had stopped at a gas station on his way to the synagogue to purchase the gas used in the fire. He said he took the licence plate off his vehicle at the gas station and used an axe to break out a window of the synagogue.
Yellow police tape on Monday blocked off the entrances to the synagogue building, which was surrounded by broken glass and soot. Bouquets of flowers were laid on the ground at the building’s entrance, including one with a note that said, “I’m so very sorry.”
The congregation’s president, Zach Shemper, has vowed to rebuild the synagogue and said several churches had offered their spaces for worship during the rebuilding process. Shemper attended Pittman’s court appearance Monday but didn’t comment afterward.
The mid-century modern building not only housed the congregation but also the Jewish Federation, a non-profit provider of social services and philanthropy. The building also is home to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life, which provides resources to Jewish communities in 13 southern states.
Synagogue’s former rabbi stood up for civil rights
Beth Israel as a congregation was founded in 1860 and acquired its first property, where it built Mississippi’s first synagogue, after the Civil War. In 1967, the synagogue moved to its current location.
It was bombed by local KKK members not long after relocating, and then two months after that, the home of the synagogue’s leader, Rabbi Perry Nussbaum, was bombed because of his outspoken opposition to segregation and racism.
A note of condolence and flowers are shown Monday at the Beth Israel Congregation. (Sophie Bates/The Associated Press)
Nussbaum was unshakable in believing he was doing the right thing by supporting civil rights, Zola said.
A Holocaust memorial is outdoors behind the synagogue building.
“Mississippi stands with the members of Beth Israel Congregation,” Gov. Tate Reeves said in a statement released Monday. “This heinous act will never be tolerated, and the perpetrator should face the full and solemn weight of their actions.”
The arson was the latest high-profile incident of antisemitism in the U.S., including a deadly shooting at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., last May that killed two people.
“That it has been attacked again, amid a surge of antisemitic incidents across the US, is a stark reminder: antisemitic violence is escalating, and it demands total condemnation and swift action from everyone,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said in a statement before the arrest.