A Mississippi grand jury has indicted a 19-year-old man with arson and hate crime expenses stemming from a hearth on the solely synagogue in Jackson, Mississippi, an act investigators allege the suspect confessed to committing due to the constructing’s “Jewish ties.”
Hinds County, Mississippi, District Lawyer Jody Owens II introduced on Tuesday that Stephen Spencer Pittman was indicted by a state grand jury on a first-degree arson cost with a hate crime enhancement.
The hearth early Saturday morning precipitated vital harm to the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue and is “alleged to have been motivated by non secular hatred, elevating the case to one of the critical arson prosecutions accessible beneath Mississippi regulation,” Owens mentioned in an announcement.
Warning tape and flowers cowl the doorway to the Beth Israel Congregation, a synagogue that was set on hearth, January 10, 2026, in Jackson, Miss.
Sophie Bates/AP
“Crimes motivated by hate and directed at locations of worship strike on the core of who we’re as a neighborhood and on the elementary proper to worship freely and safely,” Owens mentioned. “Mississippi regulation treats these offenses with the seriousness they demand, together with enhanced penalties when bias is concerned.”
Owens added that the indictment displays “our dedication to implementing these legal guidelines absolutely and guaranteeing that acts meant to intimidate or terrorize non secular communities are met with decisive accountability.”
If convicted, Spencer faces a jail sentence of as much as 60 years, Owens mentioned.
Injury sustained throughout a hearth, Jan. 10, 2026, at Beth Israel Congregation, in Jackson, Miss.
Beth Israel Congregation through AP
The state expenses have been introduced a day after federal prosecutors charged Pittman with arson of property utilized in interstate commerce or utilized in an exercise affecting interstate commerce.
Pittman allegedly laughed concerning the synagogue assault when confronted by his father, telling his dad “he lastly acquired them” and referring to the place of worship because the “synagogue of Devil,” in accordance with an FBI affidavit filed within the federal case.
The hearth occurred round 3 a.m. on Saturday on the historic Beth Israel Congregation temple in Jackson, the identical synagogue that was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan, officers mentioned. The FBI mentioned the constructing additionally homes the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL).
“The ISJL operates in interstate and overseas commerce because it offers companies to Jewish communities” in 13 completely different states, together with Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, in accordance with the affidavit, and in addition “offers complete non secular college applications to 70 Jewish congregations and gives touring rabbinical companies,” most of which “are delivered in states exterior the State of Mississippi.”
Injury sustained throughout a hearth, Jan. 10, 2026, at Beth Israel Congregation, in Jackson, Miss.
Beth Israel Congregation through AP
Pittman’s father contacted the FBI and “suggested his son confessed to setting the constructing on hearth,” in accordance with the affidavit, and allegedly despatched textual content messages to his father concerning the blaze, saying he was “due for a homerun” and “I did my analysis,” in accordance with the affidavit.
Pittman allegedly admitted to stopping to buy gasoline, taking his license plate off of his automotive, breaking a window on the synagogue, pouring the gasoline within the constructing and utilizing a torch lighter to start out the fireplace, in accordance with the affidavit.
Injury sustained throughout a hearth, Jan. 10, 2026, at Beth Israel Congregation, in Jackson, Miss.
Beth Israel Congregation through AP
“Pittman was recognized as an individual of curiosity and in the end confessed to lighting a hearth contained in the constructing because of the constructing’s Jewish ties,” the affidavit mentioned.
Safety video from contained in the constructing “confirmed the fireplace was began by a person contained in the constructing within the early morning hours of January 10, 2026,” in accordance with the affidavit.
“A hooded particular person may be seen strolling within the inside of the constructing pouring contents from what gave the impression to be a fuel container,” the affidavit additionally mentioned.
Boards cowl the charred stays of the Beth Israel Congregation librarym Jan. 12, 2026, which was set on hearth early Jan. 10, 2026, in Jackson, Mississippi.
Sophie Bates/AP
Pittman allegedly despatched textual content messages to his father from the synagogue, writing that there was a “furnace” behind the constructing, that he had eliminated his license plate from his automobile, and that his “hoodie is on,” in accordance with the affidavit. He additionally allegedly famous that the synagogue has “the perfect cameras,” the affidavit mentioned.
Pittman’s father informed authorities that later that day that when he confronted his son, he noticed burns on his son’s ankles, palms and face, in accordance with the affidavit.
After detaining Pittman, the FBI brokers, the Jackson Fireplace Division and Hinds County Sheriff’s Workplace investigators interviewed him. Pittman allegedly confessed to the investigator that he set hearth to the synagogue and mentioned that he “caught himself on hearth in the course of the act,” the affidavit mentioned.
Pittman additionally allegedly informed authorities that he left his cellphone within the synagogue, the affidavit mentioned. The FBI later recovered a burned cellphone from the scene, which they believed to be Pittman’s, the affidavit mentioned.
