A jammed gun and workers at an Arlington Heights Taco Bell restaurant prevented a potentially devastating mass shooting Sunday at a Hindu temple in Aurora.
Those were among the details to emerge Thursday as authorities released additional information about the arrest of a 19-year-old Palatine man accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple.
Cook County prosecutors said Alexandros Paporakis told a Taco Bell co-worker he had gone to the temple Sunday and attempted to shoot someone from his car, but his rifle jammed.
He indicated he intended to return later Sunday to try again, but a co-worker called 911 and stopped the potential massacre, authorities said.
“I want to thank that individual for their bravery,” Lucas Rothaar, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, said during a news conference Thursday morning in Palatine.
Paporakis is being held in Cook County Jail on charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of weapons. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 30.
Palatine police said they arrested Paporakis Sunday evening as he left his home in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court. Investigators later found a manifesto attributed to Paporakis entitled “Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto)” and containing statements expressing white supremacist and extremist ideologies, police said.
Police said officers also discovered weapons, hundreds of rounds of rifle ammunition, tactical equipment, body armor and a patch containing imagery associated with white supremacist extremism at Paporakis’ home.
Palatine Police Chief William Nord said investigators identified a red Acura RDX registered to Paporakis entering the parking lot of the temple at about 12:25 p.m. Sunday then leaving 13 minutes later.
“Our investigation has revealed, and it can be confirmed as of right now, that he has been alone in this plan,” he said. “He did reveal some details in the manifesto that he has been planning this for some time.”
Paporakis has been living in Palatine with his mother for approximately a year, but police had no previous contacts with him, Nord said. His mother has been questioned but is not cooperating with the investigation, he added.
Cook County prosecutors said he had been talking about an attack for some time.
Paporakis shared his intentions with co-workers at the fast-food restaurant where he has worked as a cashier for about seven months, according to prosecutors. He openly identified as a white supremacist at work and often discussed Nazis and an armed struggle, and made disparaging comments about people of other races, including people from India.
As Sunday approached, Paporakis’ rhetoric ramped up, prosecutors said. During a work shift Saturday, prosecutors said, he told a co-worker he couldn’t wait to kill Indian people and was planning “it” at the largest temple in Aurora.
The Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple on Oct. 14, 2026, near Aurora. The temple was the alleged target of a foiled terror attack. (Arthur Maiorella/Chicago Tribune)
He told another co-worker that Sunday was going to be a special day, authorities say.
On Sunday, Paporakis contacted a co-worker at about 1:30 p.m. by text, wanting to talk, according to prosecutors. When the co-worker called, Paporakis said his gun jammed and he got out of there “superfast.”
Paporakis then sent the co-worker a video showing an AR-style rifle, demonstrating how the gun failed to fire when the trigger was pulled, prosecutors said. Paporakis also sent a photo of himself wearing a tactical vest and said the man he fired at was “certainly saved by his God today,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say his eight-page manifesto used racially charged slurs about people of Indian ancestry, Jews and Blacks, describing them as “subhumans” and wanting to kill as many of them as possible.
He described himself as “an ordinary white kid going to college and working” on the surface, but underneath the facade was “a sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day,” prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Paporakis has been planning the attack for up to two years, and had studied the temple location via YouTube and Google Streetview.
Hindu community ‘horrified’
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said he and his family were at the Aurora Hindu temple Sunday.
“I am horrified that a white supremacist attempted to carry out a mass shooting targeting Indian Americans at the Hindu temple in Aurora where my family worships,” the Schaumburg Democrat said in a statement Thursday.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi speaks about his time in office during an interview in Schaumburg on Oct. 8, 2026. (Joe Lewnard/Daily Herald)
When Aurora Alderwoman Shweta Baid heard of the attempted mass shooting at her hometown Hindu temple her reaction was utter disbelief.
“Absolutely, I was so shocked,” said Baid, who five years ago become the first Indian American to be elected to the Aurora City Council. “I’m also deeply disturbed by the news.”
That’s the pervasive feeling in Aurora’s growing Indian American community.
Aurora is home to two Hindu temples, and Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing ethnic communities there. The community marks two Hindu festivals — Navarathri and Diwali — in October and November.
Thousands of worshippers typically gather at Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple — one of the oldest Hindu temples in the suburbs — for the nine-day Hindu festival of Navarathri that began Sunday, Baid said.
Aurora Ald. Shweta Baid stands in front of the Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple in Aurora on Oct. 15, 2026. Baid said her reaction was utter disbelief about the attempted mass shooting at her hometown Hindu temple. (John Starks/Daily Herald)
“It is one of the most visited temples in the U.S., too,” Baid said. “That’s what some of the temple officials told me.”
“Hindus deserve to feel safe in our places of worship, and this plot makes it clear that anti-Hindu and anti-Indian hate are escalating to a point of putting our community in danger,” group Executive Director Sravya Tadepalli said. “We are grateful to those who stepped up to stop a horrific incident from occurring.”
Indians routinely are described online as an “invasion,” a demographic threat, or people taking jobs and communities away from “real Americans,” the group said.
The Center for the Study of Organized Hate reported in September that monthly anti-South Asian hate on X increased 240% between January 2024 and June 2026 and Stop AAPI Hate has documented a sharp rise in anti-South Asian slurs and threats.
Krishnamoorthi said the Aurora case is an example of “how dangerous anti-Indian hatred and white supremacy have become.”
“And we cannot wait until innocent people are killed to take these threats seriously,” he added.
The Consulate General of India issued a statement Thursday thanking the “timely action by law enforcement authorities.”
“We are in touch with members of the Indian diaspora and are monitoring developments,” the statement reads.
Aurora Mayor John Laesch said he chose to live in the state’s second-largest city because of its diversity.
“As a city, we’ve stood together in the past when ICE raided our community last summer,” he said. “People of all colors, backgrounds stood up to come together to fight back and to stand in unity to oppose the oppressive takeover of our streets, and I believe that we’ll do it again to stand up and defend the Indian American community, the African American community, the Asian American community, and all those who feel under assault by the current administration in Washington.”
Laesch urged people visiting Aurora to celebrate Navarathri with the Hindu community.
“There’s a deep level of irony that this holiday, like many Hindu festivals, celebrates the victory of good over evil, the victory of light over darkness, and America is without question living through (a dark) era of our history,” he said.
State and local leaders and representatives from a coalition of interfaith and civil rights organizations came together to condemn the attempted attack and show solidarity at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Among the groups leading the call for solidarity were the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, and SACRED Acts.
“Whether we’re African American, White American, Latino, Asian, Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, we’re all united, and that’s the promise of this country,” CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab said.
Anusha Thotakura, a Chicago Board of Education member and Palatine native, said the Aurora temple is where her family worships.
“So many people are afraid to worship in their houses of worship, whether it’s a church, a synagogue, a mosque, a gurdwara, a Hindu temple,” she said. “Those are places where people should be able to find peace and refuge.”