In a manifesto, Alexandros Paporakis identified as “a sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day,” according to court records.
Prosecutors say Paporakis, 19, spent two years planning a mass shooting and had been targeting a Hindu worship center in Aurora for two months.
But Sunday, when the day came to carry out the attack, Paporakis’ AR-style rifle jammed as Paporakis tried to shoot a man from a car, prosecutors said in a proffer.
Paporakis sent messages to a co-worker at a Taco Bell in Arlington Heights, saying the man was “certainly saved by his God today,” prosecutors said.
That co-worker and another employee called 911, and Paporakis was found in the parking lot of a Palatine apartment complex, prosecutors said. A search of Paporakis’ apartment uncovered a rifle, bullet magazines, 300 rounds of ammunition and a gas can, as well as Nazi ephemera, they said.
Alexandros Paporakis was ordered detained at a court hearing Wednesday.
Paporakis is charged with making a terrorist threat and illegal gun possession, according to court records. Paporakis was ordered detained during an initial court hearing Wednesday.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi was inside the temple with family members, including his parents, celebrating the beginning of the nine-day Hindu holiday the Navaratri when the attempted shooting happened.
Krishnamoorthi on Thursday told the Chicago Sun-Times he never saw the suspect and learned about the incident on Wednesday through media reports.
The Schaumburg Democrat said Paporakis’ manifesto proves that “hateful sentiment fueled [the] actions that day,” and Krishnamoorthi said he will ask the FBI to investigate and prosecute the attempted shooting as a hate crime.
“This hateful rhetoric has exploded online. It’s on social media everywhere,” Krishnamoorthi said. “You know, two weeks ago, a Florida elected official called for me to be deported and told me to take my curry and go home.”
The congressman detailed other racist examples, pointing to a pro-Trump candidate running for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission who wrote on social media that South Asian college students watching a Texas football game were foreigners displacing Americans.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi participates in a Senate debate in January.
Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Sun-Times
“This hateful rhetoric is now being translated into violence, and the Trump administration is fanning the flames,” Krishnamoorth said. “… The flames of hateful rhetoric combined with the proliferation of firearms means that we’re going to have potential attacks like the one we had on Sunday.”
Krishnamoorthi said he’s extremely concerned about hate speech “getting out of control” and escalating into violence.
“I think that we have to stand shoulder to shoulder with anybody, whether they’re Muslim, Jewish, Christian, gay, Black, Latino, whoever is being targeted, and we got to say enough is enough,” Krishnamoorthi said. “And we’ve got to not only not practice that rhetoric, but condemn it, and then take other steps at the federal level to kind of deal with this situation because it’s getting out of control.
“And if we don’t act, it’s going to be too late, and there’s going to be a lot more violence.”
Paporakis “regularly made disparaging comments … about people of other races, particularly people from India,” prosecutors said. In an eight-page manifesto, Paporakis identified nonwhite people as “subhumans” and described a “plot to kill as many of them as possible,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors detailed a series of warning signs and said Paporakis had become “manic” ahead of the planned attack, telling one co-worker that Sunday “was going to be a special day.” Paporakis texted another co-worker around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, saying the rifle had jammed and expressing an intent to “retry when I fix this,” prosecutors said.
Associate Judge Andreana Turano noted that Paporakis was a self-described white supremacist in a detention order.
At a press conference hosted by SACRED Acts, Hindus for Human Rights and the Council on American Islamic Relations Thursday afternoon, Mayor John Laesch said he was grateful Paporakis was apprehended before he could harm anyone. He also recognized the remaining fear as locals continued to celebrate Shavad Navratri, a Hindu holiday.
Laesch blamed President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about immigrants and minorities for “infecting” the mind of Paporakis and others.
“I want Aurora residents and those visiting our community to celebrate this holiday, and to do so without fear,” Laesch said. “As a city, we’ve stood together in the past. I believe that we will do it again to stand up again to defend the Indian American community. … We cannot be afraid as the voice of fascism grows louder, escalating a race war to distract us from the class war they are simultaneously waging.”