Overview
- An FBI affidavit names Stephen Spencer Pittman as the suspect and says he admitted setting the pre-dawn fire at Beth Israel Congregation because of the building’s Jewish ties.
- Pittman was charged with damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive, and the federal investigation into possible hate-crime charges remains active.
- Authorities say he bought gasoline, forced entry with an ax, and used a torch lighter to ignite the blaze before he was arrested at a hospital with burn injuries.
- The fire destroyed the synagogue’s library and offices, ruined two Torah scrolls and damaged five others, while a Holocaust-survivor Torah in a glass case was unharmed; no injuries were reported.
- Beth Israel, Jackson’s only synagogue and home to the Institute for Southern Jewish Life, has suspended services and is arranging temporary worship space as officials and Jewish groups condemn the attack, which echoes a 1967 KKK bombing at the same site.