Mississippi shul arson suspect confesses, calls congregation ‘synagogue of Satan’

The FBI says that the suspect in a suspected arson attack against a Mississippi synagogue confessed and admitted to antisemitic animus.

Stephen Spencer Pittman “confessed to lighting a fire inside the building due to the building’s Jewish ties,” an FBI investigator writes in a criminal complaint.

The complaint says that a review of security footage showed the perpetrator lit the fire inside the synagogue in the early morning hours on Saturday.

The hooded arsonist is seen in the footage pouring liquid from what appears to be a gas canister, the complaint says.

Pittman’s father contacted the FBI to say his son had confessed to the fire. The confession was corroborated by data from a Life360 tracking app on Pittman’s phone, Pittman’s text messages to his father, and burns on Pittman’s ankles, hands and face.

The tracking app showed that Pittman traveled from his home in Madison County, Mississippi, stopped at a gas station, then went to the synagogue, the complaint says.

From the scene of the fire, Pittman texted his father photos, saying, “My plate is off,” apparently referring to his license plate, and “Hoodie is on.”

Pittman’s father confronted him, and Pittman said he broke a window at the synagogue, went inside and lit the fire.

“Pittman laughed as he told his father what he did and said he finally got them,” the complaint says.

During an interrogation, Pittman referred to the building as the “synagogue of Satan.”

Pittman is charged with a federal law barring the use of fire to maliciously damage or destroy property and faces five to 20 years in prison.