Prosecutors say a 19-year-old Palatine man took a rifle to a large Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, and a coworker’s call to police led to his arrest within hours.
Story Highlights
- Police say Alexandros Paporakis, 19, sat in the temple’s parking lot for 13 minutes with a rifle on Sunday, October 11.
- Prosecutors say he texted a coworker that his gun jammed; the coworker alerted police, and he was arrested that afternoon.
- Police say an eight-page manifesto showed hatred toward non-white people, especially Indian people.
- He is charged with making a terrorist threat and a weapons crime; a judge ordered him held on Wednesday, October 14.
A Plot Driven by Hate, Police Say
Palatine and Mount Prospect police and the FBI laid out the case at a news conference on Thursday, October 15. Alexandros Paporakis is a 19-year-old from Palatine, a Chicago suburb, who had lived there with his mother for about a year and had no past run-ins with local police. He is accused of planning a mass shooting at a large Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois. Police say the reason was hate: he called himself a white supremacist and neo-Nazi, and his writings targeted non-white people, especially Indian people.
What Police Say Happened on Sunday, October 11
Police say surveillance video shows his car entering the temple’s parking lot at 12:25 p.m. and leaving at 12:38 p.m. He then drove back to Palatine. Prosecutors say he texted a coworker that he had gone to carry out his plan, but his gun jammed and he got out of there “super-fast.”
Before that, prosecutors say, he sent the coworker images of an AR-style rifle and of himself in a tactical vest during a long chat on Signal, an app for private, scrambled messages. The coworker, from a Taco Bell in Arlington Heights, called Mount Prospect police, who contacted Palatine police at once. Officers arrested Paporakis outside his home that afternoon.
Police have not named the temple, calling it only a “large, known” temple in Aurora, Illinois. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents part of the Chicago suburbs in Congress, said he and his family worship there and were at the temple at the time. “I am grateful to the suspect’s coworkers who alerted police and commend the law enforcement officers who intervened,” he said in a statement.
Manifesto and Gear Found in His Home
Police say a search of his home turned up a rifle, several loaded magazines, hundreds of extra rounds, a tactical vest with body armor and a patch with symbols tied to white supremacist extremism. They also found an eight-page manifesto, a written statement of his beliefs and plans, with text and photos. Police say it shows the attack had been planned “for some time,” and court records say he had been planning it for two years.
Prosecutors say he wrote that he would kill as many minorities as possible before dying himself. They also quoted him calling himself a “sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred.” Police have not said why he chose October 11.
Charges and Court Dates
Paporakis is charged with one count of making a terrorist threat and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon, tied to a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches. Both are felonies, the most serious class of crimes. On Wednesday, October 14, a judge ordered him held in jail while he awaits trial. He is set to return to court at the end of October. Court documents say he has mental and emotional health issues and had been off his prescribed medication.
Why This Matters for Safety, Liberty, and Community
A coworker saw the warning signs and picked up the phone. Police say that one call led to an arrest within hours of the visit to the temple. John Cohen, a former intelligence chief at the Department of Homeland Security, said that “in almost every case, an individual who is planning an attack will exhibit behaviors” ahead of time.
Families have the right to worship in peace, and that right means little without the safety to use it. Here, an alert citizen and fast police work did what they are meant to do: act on a credible threat before anyone was hurt. That is how churches, temples, synagogues and every neighborhood stay safe.
Sources:
cbsnews.com, chicagotribune.com, abcnews.com, chicago.suntimes.com
