Suburban Chicago Teen Charged With Plotting Mass Shooting at Aurora Hindu Temple
Prosecutors say 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis told coworkers he wanted to kill Indian people, and that his AR-style rifle jammed. Coworkers called 911.
A 19-year-old man from the Chicago suburbs is facing felony charges after police said they uncovered a plan for a mass shooting that investigators believe may have targeted a Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois. Palatine police arrested Alexandros Paporakis on Sunday and charged him with making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony, and unlawfully possessing a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches, a Class 3 felony.
According to a detention proffer from prosecutors, Paporakis worked as a cashier at a Taco Bell in Arlington Heights for about seven months. A coworker told investigators he regularly made disparaging comments about people of other races, particularly people from India, and openly identified as a white supremacist. The coworker said his rhetoric intensified in the days before the alleged plot.
On Saturday, prosecutors said, Paporakis told the coworker he could not wait to kill Indian people and was planning an attack at the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, using a large amount of ammunition. Another coworker said he described the following day as a "special day."
The next afternoon, Paporakis allegedly called the first coworker and said his gun had jammed and he had gotten out of there "super-fast." He sent a video of an AR-style rifle failing to fire when the trigger was pulled, along with a photo of himself in a tactical vest. He allegedly said he was lucky he had tried to fire from inside his car and that no one had seen him, and discussed fixes so he could "retry when I fix this," prosecutors said. He also allegedly said a man he had fired at was "certainly saved by his God today."
The coworker and another employee called 911. Palatine police found Paporakis at about 3:42 p.m. in a parking lot near his apartment. During the conversation he allegedly sent an eight-page document titled "Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter's Manifesto)." Prosecutors said it contained racist slurs and hateful statements about people of Indian ancestry, Jewish people and Black people, whom it called "subhumans," and described a plan to kill as many as possible. The writer said he had been planning for two years and had focused on one location for two months, researching it with YouTube and Google Street View.
A search of his apartment turned up an AR-style rifle without a serial number, a tactical vest, eight loaded magazines, a loaded extended magazine and 300 rounds of rifle ammunition, according to the proffer. Police also found a gas can and items with Nazi symbols, including swastikas.
Authorities have not confirmed the specific location he intended to attack and have not identified any ongoing threat to the public. The FBI's Chicago Field Office is assisting, and Palatine police said they are reviewing whether more charges are warranted. Aurora police have contacted Hindu places of worship in their jurisdiction.
"The seriousness of this alleged threat cannot be overstated," Palatine Police Chief William Nord said. A judge ordered Paporakis detained Wednesday in Rolling Meadows, and his next court date is Oct. 30. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, an Illinois Democrat, said his family worships at the temple and was there when the attack was attempted last Sunday. He thanked the coworkers who alerted police and said anti-Indian hatred and white supremacy had become dangerous. The charges are allegations, and Paporakis is presumed innocent.
