\n The 19-year-old suspect in Saturday\u2019s attack was arrested at a hospital after his father called the FBI, saying his son confessed to him. Location data from a family tracking app helped corroborate his confession.\n <\/p>\n
\n No one else is believed to have been inside the building and no injuries have been reported from the fire.\n <\/p>\n
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\n Stephen Spencer Pittman has been charged with \u201carson of property used in interstate commerce or used in an activity affecting interstate commerce,\u201d according to a criminal complaint filed Monday.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pittman\u2019s father contacted the FBI Saturday and told the agency his son had confessed to setting the building on fire, says the complaint.\n <\/p>\n
\n The suspect was found at a local hospital with non-life-threatening burn injuries, Charles Felton, chief of investigations for the Jackson Fire Department\u2019s Arson Investigation Division said.\n <\/p>\n
\n A public defender was appointed to represent the 19-year-old at his first court appearance Monday afternoon. He appeared in federal court via video call from his hospital bed, with both his hands visibly bandaged, according to The Associated Press.\n <\/p>\n
\n He said he had graduated high school and attended three semesters of college, reports the AP.\n <\/p>\n
\n Pittman was released to the custody of the US Marshals Service and is scheduled to appear in court again on January 20, court records show.\n <\/p>\n
\n If Pittman is convicted, he could face anywhere between five and 20 years in prison, the Department of Justice said in a news release<\/a>. He acted alone, according to the DOJ.\n <\/p>\n \n CNN has reached out to Pittman\u2019s public defender for comment.\n <\/p>\n \n CCTV footage shows someone started a fire inside the synagogue early Saturday morning, according to the criminal complaint. The document includes an image showing a \u201chooded individual\u201d seen \u201cwalking in the interior of the building pouring contents from what appeared to be a gas container.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Pittman told authorities he first stopped at a gas station to buy the gas he used to set the blaze, according to the complaint. At the gas station, he took the license plate off his vehicle, he told authorities.\n <\/p>\n \n Once he was at the building, he used an axe to break one of the synagogue\u2019s windows, poured gas inside, and used a torch lighter to start a fire.\n <\/p>\n \n The Jackson Fire Department responded to the fire shortly after 3 a.m., where they found flames billowing from the windows. They requested fire investigators, who classified the blaze as \u201cincendiary\u201d based on \u201cfire patterns and video surveillance.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Investigators determined the fire started in the synagogue\u2019s library, which sustained extensive damage, and continued toward the sanctuary, Felton said. There is smoke damage throughout the building, he said \u2014 so the congregation won\u2019t be able to return for some time.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe fire resulted in extensive damage to a significant portion of the building and rendered it inoperable for an indefinite period of time,\u201d the criminal complaint says.\n <\/p>\n \n Felton\u2019s confessions, both to his father and to police, were corroborated by location data and physical evidence, the complaint says.\n <\/p>\n \n Data from Life360 \u2014 an app that provides real time GPS tracking \u2014 shows Pittman traveled from his home in Madison County, then stopped at a gas station in Ridgeland before proceeding to the synagogue, according to the complaint.\n <\/p>\n \n He texted his father a photo of the rear of the building, says the complaint. He wrote to his father: \u201cThere\u2019s a furnace in the back\u201d; \u201cBtw my plate is off\u201d; \u201cHoodie is on\u201d; and \u201cAnd they have the best cameras.\u201d When his father pleaded with him to return home, Pittman replied, \u201cI did my research,\u201d says the complaint.\n <\/p>\n \n Later in the day, his father saw burns on Pittman\u2019s ankles, hands and face, says the complaint. When he confronted his son, Pittman confessed to lighting a fire inside the building \u2014 and laughed as he did so, according to the complaint.\n <\/p>\n \n The FBI found a burned cell phone at the synagogue they believe is Pittman\u2019s, as well as a hand torch.\n <\/p>\n \n In his interviews with the FBI and other investigators, Pittman called the building the \u201csynagogue of Satan.\u201d He \u201cultimately confessed to lighting a fire inside the building due to the building\u2019s Jewish ties,\u201d reads the criminal complaint.\n <\/p>\n \n He told his father that he \u201cfinally got them\u201d when he confessed to the crime, says the complaint.\n <\/p>\n \n Zach Shemper, the congregation\u2019s president, told CNN Monday law enforcement informed him the suspect in the arson attack posted antisemitic comments online. He said he hadn\u2019t seen the posts himself.\n <\/p>\n \n Attorney General Pam Bondi characterized the attack as a \u201cdisgusting act of anti-Semitic violence\u201d in the DOJ\u2019s news release.\n <\/p>\n \n Jackson Mayor John Horhn condemned \u201cacts of antisemitism, racism, and religious hatred\u201d in a statement<\/a> after the attack.\n <\/p>\n \n The synagogue sustained significant damage during the attack, and it\u2019s unclear when it\u2019ll be able to reopen.\n <\/p>\n \n Photos show the building\u2019s walls and floor covered with ash, with piles of damaged items heaped together.\n <\/p>\n \n Several Torah scrolls were destroyed in the fire, according to the American Jewish Committee, which condemned the incident as a \u201chateful act<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Shemper said it could take at least a year to repair the building. In the meantime, multiple churches have offered their spaces to Beth Israel.\n <\/p>\n \n He said he felt both \u201csadness\u201d and \u201canger\u201d when he learned about the blaze.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen something like this happens so catastrophic, your mind goes 100 miles an hour in every direction you can think of,\u201d Shemper said. \u201cFor someone to hurt the safe space that we hold as a congregation, it\u2019s just so detrimental and catastrophic.\u201d\n <\/p>\n![\"Repairing](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/img-5538.JPG\")
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