A Palatine, Illinois, teenager accused of planning a mass shooting at a Hindu temple in Aurora has been indicted by a Cook County grand jury, prosecutors said. They added that Alexandros Paporakis, 19, has been charged with one count related to a terrorist threat and one count related to the unlawful use of a weapon.
His first hearing has been set for Nov. 19, and he remains in custody at the Cook County jail until trial. The FBI said that on Oct. 10, Paporakis told a coworker at the Taco Bell restaurant in Arlington Heights where he worked that he planned to kill Hindus, mentioning the largest Hindu temple in Aurora. The next day, he told the coworker that he had gone to carry out his plan to attack the Hindu temple, but his weapon had jammed.
Palatine police said surveillance video shows the 19-year-old’s car entering the parking lot of the well-known, large Hindu temple in Aurora at 12:25 p.m. on a Sunday and leaving at 12:38 p.m. Police said Paporakis then returned to Palatine. Investigators concluded that the teenager might try to carry out his plan again, so they arrested him in front of his home in Palatine on Oct. 11. Police and the FBI said Paporakis acted alone.
A search of his home turned up a rifle, several loaded rifle magazines, hundreds of additional rounds of rifle ammunition, tactical gear, a tactical vest with a bulletproof insert, and a patch with motifs associated with white supremacist extremism. Officers also found an eight-page manifesto. Police said the contents of the manifesto indicate that Paporakis had been planning the attack for a long time.
The manifesto is apparently filled with hateful views toward people who are not white, particularly those of Hindu descent. Investigators said that in the manifesto, Paporakis described himself as an “ordinary white guy who studies and works.” “Behind that facade was a sociopathic white supremacist and neo-Nazi full of hatred, fantasizing about mass murder almost every day,” investigators said.
The FBI and police have not publicly named the temple that Paporakis allegedly chose as his target, but Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi said that he and his family attend the temple in Aurora and were there at the time of the planned attack to celebrate the Hindu festival of Navaratri. Although no federal charges have been filed against the teenager yet, the FBI said it does not rule out that possibility. Krishnamoorthi called on the FBI to investigate the plot as a hate crime.
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Source: Polski.FM
