Mississippi suspect laughed as he confessed to torching ‘Synagogue of Satan’ — FBI |
The FBI said on Monday that the suspect in an apparent US arson attack against a Mississippi synagogue confessed and admitted to antisemitic animus.
Stephen Spencer Pittman, 19, “confessed to lighting a fire inside the building due to the building’s Jewish ties,” an FBI investigator wrote in a criminal complaint filed in the federal Southern District court of Mississippi.
The complaint said that a review of security footage showed the perpetrator lit the fire inside the synagogue in the early morning hours on Saturday.
The hooded arsonist was seen in the footage pouring liquid in the building from what appeared to be a gas canister, the complaint said.
Pittman’s father contacted the FBI to say his son had confessed to the fire. The confession was corroborated by data from a Life360 tracking app on Pittman’s phone, Pittman’s text messages to his father, and burns on Pittman’s ankles, hands, and face.
The tracking app showed that Pittman traveled from his home in Madison County, Mississippi, stopped at a gas station, then went to the synagogue, the complaint said.
From the scene of the fire, Pittman texted his father photos, saying, “My plate is off,” apparently referring to his license plate, and “Hoodie is on.”
Pittman’s father pleaded with him to come home, then confronted him in the morning. Pittman told his father that he broke a window at the synagogue, went inside, and lit the fire.
“Pittman laughed as he told his........