Hate found its way to Mississippi’s largest Jewish house of worship, Congregation Beth Israel, when an arsonist intentionally set fire to the synagogue at about 3 a.m. Saturday, damaging the only synagogue in Jackson.
The alleged suspect’s name, Stephen Spencer Pittman, was released late Monday. According to the FBI, he faces charges of maliciously damaging or destroying a building by fire or an explosive.
Russ Latino, a native Mississippian and founder of the Jackson-based Magnolia Tribune Institute, said an affidavit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi alleges Pittman admitted to law enforcement that he set the fire at Beth Israel because of its “Jewish ties.” Latino added that Pittman referred to the synagogue as the “Synagogue of Satan” and detailed the steps he took leading up to the arson.
Latino noted that “Synagogue of Satan” is an antisemitic phrase that both Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens have used in recent years. “Nothing in his personal profile points out anything political. There is no Trump or Biden or Harris. There are just a lot of bible verses,” he said, adding, “But ‘Synagogue of Satan’ well, that is a pretty specific alliteration and the same phraseology used by Fuentes and Owens,” he said.
His social media presence on X shows a young man posting about his Christian faith and baseball, where he was a standout player in both high school and college.
Latino said the entire Jackson community has rallied around the Beth Israel congregants. “Many different faith organizations had reached out and offered their houses of worship for the Beth Israel members so they can practice their faith,” he said.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves echoed that community sentiment, saying the state of Mississippi stands with the members of the congregation. “This heinous act will never be tolerated, and the perpetrator should face the full and solemn weight of their actions. I have directed the Mississippi Department of Public Safety to support our federal law enforcement partners in any manner necessary as they investigate this horrible situation and pursue state charges,” he said.
Public Safety Commissioner Sean Lindell said the department was fully engaged and working closely with its federal and local partners to hold those responsible accountable. “We will pursue charges at both the state and federal levels to see that justice is served,” Lindell said.
The arson follows years of violent attacks against the nation’s Jewish community, dating back to October 2018, when Robert Bowers murdered 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood, the worst massacre of Jews in American history.
Julie Parish, who lives in Squirrel Hill and is the Mid-Atlantic regional director of StandWithUS, said she is horrified by the deliberate arson at Beth Israel Congregation. “To target Mississippi’s largest and oldest house of worship, desecrating sacred Torah scrolls and destroying a library and administration offices is an act of unmitigated evil,” Parish said.
Parish, who has documented scores of graffiti attacks in Pittsburgh’s largest Jewish neighborhood, said while this fire was an attempt to intimidate and harm, “It will not succeed.”
Violence targeting Jews and Jewish institutions surged after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas-led terrorists. Since then, a Jordanian national broke into a solar power generation facility in Wedgefield, Florida, because he believed the company supported Israel, causing nearly $500,000 in damage.
Last May, two Israeli Embassy staffers were killed by a lone gunman in Washington, D.C. A month later in Boulder, Colorado, Mohamed Sabry Soliman allegedly threw Molotov cocktails at a march supporting Israeli hostages. Prosecutors say Soliman attacked the group with incendiary devices, injuring at least seven people and killing one.
The Anti-Defamation League reported 8,873 antisemitic incidents in the United States in 2023, a 140% increase from 2022. In 2024, the total climbed again, reaching 9,354 incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism, and assault nationwide.
Last April, on the first night of Passover, Cody Balmer scaled an iron security fence at the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the middle of the night. Carrying used beer bottles filled with gasoline, Balmer allegedly evaded police and security as he attempted to carry out a terrorism plot to kill Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Footage shows Balmer made it as far as the doors near where Shapiro and his family, including his wife and children, were sleeping, but he was unable to get inside. He then set a second fire and fled, never once encountering state police.
Balmer told police he intended to beat Shapiro with a small sledgehammer if he encountered him. He also said Shapiro needed to know that Balmer “will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do with the Palestinian people.”
Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison in October.
Beth Israel’s library and surrounding rooms suffered severe damage, with smoke spreading throughout the building. The two Torahs kept in the library were destroyed.
Latino said the sanctuary was also damaged, along with five Torahs housed there. However, an eighth Torah, rescued during the Holocaust and displayed in a glass case, survived.
Pittman, 19, who goes by his middle name, lives in Madison just outside Jackson. According to an affidavit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi, he faces federal charges for using fire to maliciously damage or destroy a building involved in interstate commerce.
When he appeared in court, the judge asked him if he understood his rights to an attorney, and Pittman responded, “Yes, sir, Jesus Christ is Lord.”
Federal investigators were able to identify him pretty quickly because of text messages he allegedly sent to his father in the course of setting the fire on Saturday. “That was in the affidavit. His father was pleading with him to come home but he replied ‘I did my research,’” Latino said.
Pittman is alleged to have confessed to his father, who then contacted the FBI.
GPS data indicated that Pittman was at the synagogue.
Local news reports show Pittman was an honor student and an outstanding baseball athlete who graduated from St. Joseph in 2024. Since then, he has been an outfielder at Coahoma Community College.
JOSH SHAPIRO ADMITS VIOLENCE ALMOST DROVE HIM FROM RACE
Three days ago, around the time of the attack, a post on what investigators believe is Pittman’s Instagram account suggested his interests extended beyond baseball. The account featured an image of Princess Clara, an animated character from Drawn Together known for religious fanaticism and bigotry, pushing Mumble O’Algo, a secondary character depicted wearing a Star of David and carrying bags of money, into a pool while shouting, “A Jew in my back yard! I can’t believe my Jew crown didn’t work. You are getting baptized right now!”
The question is who radicalized this young man, with seemingly no ideological bent, from posts about baseball and faith to attempting to burn down a house of worship and using phraseology like “Synagogue of Satan.”