19-year-old arrested in Aurora after alleged plot to attack Hindu temple
Police say a 19-year-old from Palatine was detained after a failed attempt to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu temple in Aurora, citing a manifesto and a jammed rifle.
Police in the northwest Chicago suburbs arrested Alexandros Paporakis, 19, on Sunday after he allegedly planned to open fire at the largest Hindu temple in Aurora. According to court documents, Paporakis, who works as a fast-food cashier, traveled from his mother’s home in Palatine to the temple with a modified AR-style rifle, 300 rounds of ammunition, body armor, gasoline cans and swastika-marked items.
Authorities say the gun jammed when he attempted to fire, prompting him to return home where he searched online for instructions to fix the weapon and called a coworker about his intent. The coworker alerted police, leading to Paporakis’s arrest before he could revisit the temple.
Investigators recovered a manifesto in which the suspect, referring to himself as the “Aurora Shooter,” expressed white-supremacist and anti-minority sentiments and described plans to kill “Indian people” and other non-white groups.
Paporakis faces charges related to firearms and a terrorist threat. A Cook County judge ordered him held without bond and placed a healthcare order, noting treatment for ADHD, depression, anxiety, and hormone therapy related to gender transition.
The temple’s chairman thanked local law enforcement for preventing the attack, noting the site already has a strong security presence.
"These allegations are still under investigation and may evolve," said Paporakis’s public defender.