According to an FBI affidavit, the building sustained “extensive” damage, rendering it “inoperable for an indefinite period of time.”
The suspect, identified by the FBI as Stephen Spencer Pittman, allegedly laughed about the attack, telling his father “he finally got them” and referring to the place of worship as the “synagogue of Satan,” according to the affidavit.
Pittman is charged with arson of property used in interstate commerce or used in an activity affecting interstate commerce, according to the criminal complaint.
The fire occurred around 3 a.m. on Saturday at the historic Beth Israel Congregation temple in Jackson, the same synagogue that was bombed in 1967 by the Ku Klux Klan, officials said. The FBI said the building also houses the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life (ISJL).
“The ISJL operates in interstate and foreign commerce as it provides services to Jewish communities” in 13 different states, including Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas, according to the affidavit, and also “provides comprehensive religious school programs to 70 Jewish congregations and offers traveling rabbinical services,” most of which “are delivered in states outside the State of Mississippi.”
Pittman’s father contacted the FBI and “advised his son confessed to setting the building on fire,” according to the affidavit, and allegedly sent text messages to his father about the blaze, saying he was “due for a homerun” and “I did my research,” according to the affidavit.
Pittman allegedly admitted to stopping to purchase gasoline, taking his license plate off of his car, breaking a window at the synagogue, pouring the gasoline inside of the building and using a torch lighter to start the fire, according to the affidavit.
“Pittman was identified as a person of interest and ultimately confessed to lighting a fire inside the building due to the building’s Jewish ties,” according to the affidavit.
Security video from inside the building “showed the fire was started by an individual inside the building in the early morning hours of January 10, 2026,” according to the affidavit.
“A hooded individual can be seen walking in the interior of the building pouring contents from what appeared to be a gas container,” the affidavit also said.
(LOS ANGELES) — Los Angeles police are searching for two gunmen after a 22-year-old woman — reportedly a Latin singer — was killed in an ambush-style shooting.
Around 1:25 a.m. Saturday, two men approached a parked car in the Northridge neighborhood and fired multiple rounds at several people sitting inside, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Maria De La Rosa was taken to a hospital where she died from gunshot wounds, police said.
The 22-year-old was, according to multiple reports, a Latin singer growing in popularity with about 40,000 Instagram followers.
Two others in the car with her were injured, according to police.
A motive isn’t known and no arrests have been made, police said.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(UVALDE, Texas) — A jury has acquitted former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales for his response to the Robb Elementary shooting in May 2022.
After more than seven hours of deliberations, the jury returned a not guilty verdict Wednesday evening on all 29 counts of child endangerment.
As the verdict was read, Gonzalez bowed his head as he heard it. Several of those sitting in the gallery started crying. He hugged his lawyers, shook hands and appeared to be tearing up.
Gonzales was among the first officers to respond to the mass shooting, in which 19 students and two teachers were killed. It took 77 minutes before law enforcement mounted a counterassault to end the rampage.
Prosecutors alleged Gonzales did not follow his training and endangered the 19 students who died and an additional 10 surviving students.
Lawyers for Gonzales, who pleaded not guilty, argued he was unfairly blamed for a broader law-enforcement failure that day.
Ex-officer: Focused on ‘picking up the pieces’ When he walked out of the courtroom on Wednesday night after the jury acquitted him, Gonzales was a man of few words.
“I want to start by thanking God for this — my family, my wife and these guys — he put them in my path,” he told reporters, referring to his lawyers. “Thank you for the jury, for considering all the evidence.”
When ABC News’ John Quiñones asked him, “What does moving on look like to you?” he answered succinctly.
“Picking up the pieces and moving forward,” Gonzales said.
Asked about the frustration of some of the families of victims about the verdict, defense attorney Nico LaHood said he’s “sorry that they feel that way” and vowed to pray for them.
“We pray for them. We’re sorry that they feel that way. We understand that their separation from their loved one is going to be felt as long as they walk on this earth, and we don’t, we don’t ignore that. We acknowledge that we’re just going to continue to pray for them. So I’m very sorry that they feel that way,” he said.
According to LaHood — who said he spoke with some of the jurors after the verdict — the jury was saddened by the trial but couldn’t see through some gaps in the prosecution’s case.
“They were very mindful and deliberate,” LaHood said. “Obviously, they were saddened, because they know what the other families are mourning still, but they said there were a lot of gaps in the evidence, and some of it didn’t make sense.”
Jason Goss, another attorney for Gonzales, told reporters that he believes the verdict clears his client’s name.
“The evidence showed that not only did he not fail, but he put himself in great danger,” Goss said. “So, you can imagine how somebody who has had the entire country look at him as somebody who was not willing to do his duty. He is a proud man who does do his duty. And he went in there. When it was time for him to go, he went in there.”
Families of the victims react
For Jacinto Cazares — whose 9-year-old daughter Jackie died in the shooting — the verdict was yet another instance of the legal system failing to deliver justice after one of the worst mass shootings in US history.
“We had a little hope, but it wasn’t enough,” he said outside the court. “Again, we are failed. I don’t even know what to say.”
Cazares said he was hopeful that the jury might have reached a different conclusion but “prepared for the worst.”
“I need to keep composed for my daughter. It has been an emotional roller coaster since day one. I am pissed,” he said.
Jesse Rizo, Jackie’s uncle, told reporters he was concerned about the message the verdict might send to police officers who respond to future mass shootings.
“I respect the jury’s decision, but what message does it send?” he said. “If you’re an officer, you can simply stand by, stand down, stand idle, and not do anything and wait for everybody to be executed, killed, slaughtered, massacred.”
When asked about the defense case by ABC’s John Quiñones, Jackie’s aunt Julissa Rizo pushed back on the defense narrative that Gonzales acted heroically that day.
“The defense said he did as much as he could,” Quiñones said.
“That’s not true,” she responded. “There were two monsters on May 24. One was the shooter, and the other one was the one that never went in, that could have avoided this.”
How the trial unfolded Each of the 29 counts Gonzales faced carried a maximum penalty of two years in prison, and h. could have spent the rest of his life in prison if he was convicted.
Prosecutors claimed Gonzales had a unique opportunity to stop the carnage when he arrived and learned gunman Salvador Ramos’ location from a teaching aide. The aide testified that she repeatedly urged Gonzales to intervene, but said the officer did “nothing” in those crucial moments. Prosecutors also argued Gonzales failed to act once he got inside the school.
Before jurors were sent to deliberate, District Attorney Christina Mitchell gave an impassioned plea, saying, “I know this case is difficult, and it has been difficult. But we cannot continue to let children die in vain.”
The defense argued that Gonzales did everything he could in that moment — including gathering critical information, evacuating children and entering the school — and said Gonzales acted on the information he had. The defense also highlighted that other officers arrived in the same timeframe as Gonzales and that at least one officer had an opportunity to shoot the gunman before he entered the school.
This case marks the second time in U.S. history that prosecutors have sought to hold a member of law enforcement criminally accountable for their response to a mass shooting.
In 2023, a Florida jury acquitted Scot Peterson, a former Broward County sheriff’s deputy, who was charged with child neglect and culpable negligence for his alleged inaction during the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Peterson’s lawyers argued his role as an armed school resource officer did not amount to a caregiving post needed to prove child neglect in Florida, and that the response to the shooting was muddled by poor communication.
Former Uvalde Schools Police Chief Pete Arredondo — who was the on-site commander on the day of the Robb Elementary shooting — is also charged with endangerment or abandonment of a child and has pleaded not guilty. Arredondo’s case has been delayed indefinitely by an ongoing federal lawsuit filed after the U.S. Border Patrol refused repeated efforts by Uvalde prosecutors to interview Border Patrol agents who responded to the shooting, including two who were in the tactical unit responsible for killing the gunman at the school.
“What happened to Uvalde on May 24 can happen anywhere, at any time,” she said. “If it’s going to happen, and if we have laws mandating what the responsibility of a law enforcement peace officer is for a school district, then we better be ready to back it up.”
Nick Reiner, son of Rob Reiner is arrested in Los Angeles, Dec. 14, 2025. LAPD
(LOS ANGELES) — Nick Reiner, who is accused of killing his parents, renowned Hollywood director Rob Reiner and wife Michele Singer Reiner, made a brief first appearance in court on Wednesday.
He waived the right to a speedy arraignment. The arraignment is set for Jan. 7.
Nick Reiner was charged Tuesday with two counts of first-degree murder, with the special circumstance of multiple murders, for allegedly stabbing his parents to death early on Sunday, Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said.
The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole or the death penalty, Hochman said.
“No decision at this point has been made with respect to the death penalty,” Hochman said.
“Our hearts go out to the entire Reiner family,” Jackson said after court on Wednesday. “There are very, very complex and serious issues that are associated with this case.”
“We ask that during this process, you allow the system to move forward in the way that it was designed … not with jumping to conclusions, but with restraint and with dignity and with the respect that this system and this process deserves and that the family deserves,” Jackson said.
New videos obtained by ABC News appear to show the moments leading up to Nick Reiner’s arrest on Sunday night.
One of the videos appears to show Nick Reiner moments before his arrest near the University of Southern California. In the video, he’s wearing jeans, a striped jacket and a baseball cap. He’s seen with a red backpack slung over one shoulder as he enters a gas station and purchases a drink.
Another video shows him outside walking near a crosswalk when several police vehicles with flashing lights surround him. He can be seen in the video raising his hands.
The Reiners’ daughter found her parents’ bodies in their Brentwood home on Sunday, sources told ABC News.
A neighbor told ABC News that actors Billy Crystal and Larry David were seen at the house after police arrived on Sunday, and the neighbor said, “Billy looked like he was about to cry.”
Nick Reiner — who was living on his parents’ property, according to a former family security guard — had been open about battling drug addiction since he was a teenager. In 2016, Nick Reiner worked with his dad on the movie “Being Charlie,” which was based largely on his struggle with drug addiction.
Sources told ABC News that Nick Reiner got into an argument with his father at a holiday party on Saturday night and was seen acting strangely.
“Prosecuting cases involving family violence are some of the most challenging and heart-wrenching we face because of the intimate and often brutal nature of the crimes,” Hochman said in a statement on Tuesday.
