Overview
- Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, was charged in federal court with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive.
- He admitted to starting the blaze, called Beth Israel the “synagogue of Satan,” and described buying gasoline, removing his license plate, breaking a window with an ax, and igniting the fire with a torch lighter.
- Investigators cited corroborating evidence including burns on Pittman, a burned cell phone, text messages to his father, and location data, after his father alerted the FBI to the confession.
- The fire destroyed two Torah scrolls, damaged five others, gutted the library and administrative offices, and left the sanctuary largely standing with no injuries reported; a Holocaust-surviving Torah was unharmed.
- FBI, ATF, and local authorities are investigating the case as a potential hate crime while Beth Israel suspends services, arranges temporary worship space with local churches, and begins plans to rebuild at the historic site previously bombed by the KKK in 1967.