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A Mississippi synagogue was set on fire by a 19-year old man; this same synagogue was also previously bombed by the Ku Klux Klan. 

Jody Owens II allegedly announced that Stephen Spencer Pittman was charged with first-degree arson and a hate crime enhancement.

“Mississippi law treats these offenses with the seriousness they demand, including enhanced penalties when bias is involved,” Owens said. 

His father observed burns on his ankles, hands, and his face, reporting everything to the police.

Pittman allegedly confessed to an investigator that he lit the synagogue on fire and that he caught himself on fire during the process. He told the authorities that he left his phone at the synagogue. The FBI recovered his phone at the crime scene, most likely Pittman’s.

“If Pittman is convicted, he would spend up to 60 years in prison. When he confessed to his father, he allegedly laughed about the attack, saying, ‘he finally got them,’ as well as referring to the synagogue as the “synagogue of Satan.”

The cameras in the synagogue show a hooded figure, which lines up with Pittman’s words, as he did say he was wearing a hoodie and was there at the time of the crime.

Pittman also allegedly admitted to buying gasoline, taking his license plate off of his car, breaking a window at the synagogue, and pouring the gasoline inside of the building and using a torch lighter. 

The fire destroyed parts of the building, such as two Torah scrolls, making the synagogue unusable for the future.

The synagogue’s library and administrative offices were destroyed in the fire as well. The main sanctuary was not damaged, however. A Torah rescued from the Holocaust and stored in a glass case was not damaged.