US Teen Planned Attack On Hindu Temple For Two Years, Gun Jammed During Alleged Shooting Attempt

A 19-year-old teenager arrested over an alleged plot to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu temple near Chicago had been planning the attack for more than two years, according to court documents accessed by NDTV.

Prosecutors from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said the suspect, Alexandros Paporakis, had told his co-workers at a Taco Bell outlet in Palatine that he “couldn’t wait to kill Indian” people.

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Although investigators have yet to confirm the intended target, police in Palatine, Illinois, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believe Paporakis planned to attack a large Hindu temple in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago.

Gun Malfunction And Co-Worker’s Alert Foil Attack

Palatine Police Chief William Nord said a red Acura RDX registered to Paporakis entered a temple parking lot around 12.25 pm on Sunday and left within 15 minutes. Paporakis was later spotted alone in the vehicle near his home in another suburb around 2 pm.

Authorities did not identify the temple, but the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora subsequently informed its members about a security threat through its website. An unnamed receptionist at the temple confirmed to The New York Times that it was the location of the alleged attempted attack.

According to court documents, Paporakis had told a co-worker that Sunday would be the “special day”. He later reportedly called the colleague to say his gun had jammed at the scene and that he was fleeing.

He also allegedly sent a video showing how his AR-style rifle had failed to fire and said he was attempting to repair it so he could “retry”.

Referring to a man he had allegedly attempted to shoot, Paporakis reportedly told his co-worker that “the man that he fired at was ‘certainly saved by his God today,’” according to the court document.

The co-worker alerted police by calling 911. Officers from the Mount Prospect and Palatine police departments subsequently coordinated to locate and arrest Paporakis as he was leaving his home on Sunday afternoon.

Police Recover Weapons, Nazi Symbols And Alleged Manifesto

During a search of the residence Paporakis had shared with his mother for about a year, investigators recovered a rifle, several loaded magazines, hundreds of additional rounds of ammunition and a tactical vest containing body armour.

Police also found a patch displaying imagery associated with white supremacist extremism, items bearing Nazi symbols, including swastikas, and a gas can labelled with the anti-Indian slur ‘Jeet Remover’.

Investigators examined his electronic communications and a document attributed to him titled “Why I Fought: A.K.A.: (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto)”.

According to court records, the document described Indian, Jewish and African American people as “subhumans” and outlined a plan to kill as many of them as possible.

Prosecutors said Paporakis, who worked as a cashier at Taco Bell, had also sent messages expressing white supremacist views and discussing a possible mass shooting.

He faces felony charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawfully possessing a rifle.

Suspect Allegedly Planned Attack For Two Years

Court documents indicated that Paporakis had been planning an attack for two years and had spent two months studying the specific location. He allegedly researched the intended target through YouTube and Google Street View.

In an eight-page document shared with a co-worker, he reportedly used racial slurs against non-white people and described plans for mass killings.

The document portrayed his public identity as that of an ordinary white college student who also worked. It stated, “Underneath that facade was a sociopathic white supremacist Neo-Nazi filled with hatred, fantasising about mass murder nearly every day.”

Paporakis also wrote about wanting to die, but not “[b]efore I sacrifice myself to take revenge on the world. On the subhumans that ruined mine and so many people’s lives,” according to the court document.

Explaining his choice of target, he allegedly wrote, “I decided to target something that would give me pleasure to destroy.”

The document also reportedly encouraged others to carry out acts of extremist violence.

Prosecutors said his behaviour had intensified by Saturday. Co-workers reported that he told one colleague, “He couldn’t wait to kill Indian people,” while informing another that he was planning “it” at a Hindu temple in Aurora.

Arrest Raises Concerns Over Anti-Indian Attacks In US

Paporakis’s arrest comes amid concerns about physical and verbal attacks targeting South Asians, particularly Indians, in the United States under the Donald Trump administration.

Earlier in October, an unidentified person vandalised a Hindu temple outside Cleveland by throwing a brick through a window.

In September, the Department of Homeland Security faced criticism after posting a social media message featuring an image of a Sikh man and urging some immigrants to self-deport.

The department subsequently removed the image but dismissed criticism of the post as “nonsensical drivel”.