Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi has spoken out after a 19-year-old man was arrested after police uncovered an alleged plan for a mass shooting that investigators believe may have targeted a Hindu place of worship in the Aurora area. Alexandros Paporakis was arrested Sunday, October 11, and charged with making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony, and unlawfully possessing a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches, a Class 3 felony.
“I am horrified that a white supremacist allegedly attempted to massacre Indian Americans at a Hindu temple in Aurora. This is where the poison of anti-Indian hatred and white supremacy can lead, and we cannot wait until innocent people are killed to take it seriously. I am grateful to the coworkers who sounded the alarm and the law enforcement officers who intervened,” Krishnamoorthy wrote on X. There, a judge ordered that he be detained.
The co-worker and another employee subsequently called 911. Palatine police located Paporakis at about 3:42 pm in a parking lot near his apartment in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court. Paporakis appeared Wednesday, October 14, at the Cook County Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows. His next court appearance is scheduled for 9 am Oct. 30 in Room 108 at the same courthouse.
