Overview
- Federal prosecutors charged Stephen Spencer Pittman with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive in U.S. District Court in Mississippi.
- Security video and an FBI affidavit detail a plan involving purchased gasoline, a removed license plate, an ax to break a window, and a torch lighter to ignite the fire.
- Investigators say Pittman called Beth Israel the “synagogue of Satan,” and his father alerted the FBI after receiving incriminating texts; a burned phone and a hand torch were recovered.
- The blaze gutted the library and administrative offices, destroyed two Torah scrolls and damaged five others, spared congregants from injury, and left the main sanctuary smoke-damaged.
- Authorities are pursuing a hate-crime and domestic-terrorism inquiry as Beth Israel suspends services and coordinates temporary worship space with local faith communities.