A US teen has been arrested for allegedly planning a mass shooting at a Hindu temple in the Aurora area near Chicago.
Police said they arrested Alexandros Paporakis after receiving information about a possible attack. He is facing charges of making a terrorist threat and illegally possessing a weapon.
Alexandros Paporakis is a 19-year-old resident of Palatine, a suburb in the Chicago metropolitan area of Illinois. He worked as a cashier at a Taco Bell restaurant.
He came into public attention after police began investigating an alleged plan to carry out a mass shooting at a Hindu temple. The investigation began after his co-workers reported receiving disturbing messages and material that appeared to describe a planned attack.
Paporakis sent a co-worker an eight-page document titled Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto) – which allegedly contained racist statements about Indian, Jewish and African American people. He allegedly described himself in the document as a white supremacist and neo-Nazi who fantasised about mass murder almost every day.
His co-workers told police that he openly spoke about these views at work. They also alleged that he made racist remarks about people from other communities, particularly Indians. The manifesto, along with messages sent to his co-workers, reportedly contained references to violence against people of Indian descent.
According to prosecutors, he shared images of a rifle, ammunition magazines, body armour and other tactical equipment to his co-worker. He allegedly told them that he could not wait to kill Indian people. Prosecutors also said he had described the Sunday of the alleged attack as a “special day”.
During a search of Paporakis’ home, detectives recovered an AR-style rifle without a serial number, loaded magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition and tactical equipment. Investigators also reportedly found body armour, a gas canister bearing a racial slur directed at South Asians and items displaying Nazi symbols.
Paporakis was presented at the Cook County Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows on Wednesday, where a judge ordered him detained. His next hearing is scheduled for October 30.
