Federal authorities say the man accused of setting fire to a historic Mississippi synagogue admitted he targeted the building because of its “Jewish ties", reported the Associated Press.
The suspect was charged Monday with maliciously damaging or destroying a building by means of fire or an explosive. According to an affidavit filed in US District Court in Mississippi, the FBI said he confessed to lighting the fire “due to the building's Jewish ties."
The blaze erupted shortly after 3:00 a.m. on Saturday at Beth Israel Congregation in Jackson, ripping through the building but causing no injuries to congregants or firefighters. Security footage released Monday showed a masked and hooded individual pouring liquid from a gas can onto the floor and a couch in the lobby.
During an interview with law enforcement, the suspect referred to the synagogue as the “synagogue of Satan," the affidavit states. He also “admitted to starting a fire inside the Beth Israel Congregation/ISJL building," according to investigators from the Jackson Fire Department and Hinds County Sheriff's Office.
The suspect told investigators he stopped at a gas station on the way to purchase fuel used in the attack and removed his vehicle’s license plate there. He then used an ax to break a window, poured gasoline inside, and ignited it with a torch lighter, the affidavit says.
The FBI later recovered a burned cell phone believed to belong to the suspect, along with a hand torch that a congregation member found and turned over to authorities.
A Torah scroll that survived the Holocaust was protected behind glass and was not damaged, the congregation said. Five Torahs in the sanctuary were being evaluated for smoke damage. Two Torahs kept in the library - the area hit hardest - were destroyed, according to a synagogue representative.
The affidavit notes that the suspect’s father contacted the FBI to report that his son had confessed to setting the fire. Data recovered from Pittman’s phone corroborated the account, an agent wrote.
Beth Israel Congregation is the oldest synagogue in Jackson and was previously targeted in a 1967 Ku Klux Klan bombing that damaged the synagogue’s offices and the home of its rabbi at the time. No one was killed in that attack.