Suspect in Mississippi synagogue fire allegedly laughed about the attack, FBI says

Federal authorities charged a man Monday with burning down the only synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, saying the suspect did so because of the building’s “Jewish connections.”

According to an FBI affidavit, the building suffered “significant” damage, rendering it “unusable for an indefinite period of time.”

The suspect, identified by the FBI as Stephen Spencer Pittman, allegedly laughed about the attack, telling his father “he finally got them” and calling the house of worship a “synagogue of Satan,” according to the affidavit.

Pittman is charged with arson of property used in interstate commerce or used in an activity affecting interstate commerce, according to the criminal complaint.

The fire occurred around 3 a.m. Saturday at the historic Congregation Beth Israel Temple in Jackson, the same synagogue that was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan, officials said. The FBI said the building also houses the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL).

“ISJL operates in interstate and foreign commerce as it provides services to Jewish communities” in 13 different states, including Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, according to the affidavit, and “also provides comprehensive religious school programs to 70 Jewish congregations and offers traveling rabbinical services,” most of which “are conducted in states outside the state of Mississippi.”

Pittman’s father contacted the FBI and “informed his son that he had admitted to setting the building on fire,” according to the affidavit, and allegedly sent text messages to his father about the fire, saying he “must have hit a home run” and “I had done my research,” according to the affidavit.

Pittman allegedly admitted to stopping to buy gas, removing his license plate from his car, breaking a window at the synagogue, pouring gasoline inside the building and using a torch lighter to start the fire, according to the affidavit.

“Pittman was identified as a person of interest and eventually confessed to starting a fire inside the building due to the building’s Jewish connections,” the affidavit states.

Security video from inside the building “showed that the fire was started by an individual inside the building in the early morning hours of January 10, 2026,” according to the affidavit.

“A hooded individual can be seen walking inside the building pouring the contents of what appears to be a gas canister,” the affidavit also states.

Pittman allegedly sent text messages to his father from the synagogue, writing that there was a “furnace” in the back of the building, that he had removed his license plate from his vehicle and that his “hoodie was on,” according to the affidavit. He also allegedly pointed out that the synagogue has “the best cameras,” the affidavit states.

Pittman’s father told authorities that later that day, when he confronted his son, he observed burns on his son’s ankles, hands and face, according to the affidavit.

After arresting Pittman, FBI agents, Jackson firefighters and Hinds County Sheriff’s Office investigators questioned him. Pittman allegedly admitted to the investigator that he set the synagogue on fire and said he “caught himself on fire during the act,” the affidavit states.

Pittman also allegedly told authorities he left his cell phone at the synagogue, according to the affidavit. The FBI then recovered a burnt cell phone at the scene, which they believed to be Pittman’s, the affidavit states.