The man who police say was behind a violent plot to target a suburban worship center is young and looks even younger, and he is now behind bars.
Alexandros Paporakis is 19 years old and works as a cashier in a fast food restaurant. Police in Palatine, his northwest suburban hometown, said Paporakis had plotted to carry out a “mass shooting of Indians” at a Hindu temple in Aurora, where they say he was driving last Sunday, dressed for war.
Authorities say the 19-year-old was one faulty rifle away from becoming a mass shooter.
His alleged target was the largest Hindu temple in the southwest suburb of Aurora. The sprawling place of worship was filled with people and joy on Sunday – when police said a young man showed up “to kill a significant number of Indians”, police said.
But fate had a different outcome in mind for Paporakis, according to a recently filed court filing.
Investigators say he had a modified AR-style rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition, enough to fill ten reloading magazines, as well as a bulletproof vest, cans of gasoline and an assortment of swastikas.
Paporakis, a Taco Bell employee, allegedly drove from his mother’s home in Palatine to the Aurora Temple. Authorities say he tried to open fire, but the gun jammed so he returned home. There, he “searched the Internet to try to unlock his gun and called a co-worker to inform him of (his) intention to carry out a mass shooting.”
Several sources familiar with the matter say the colleague then informed police of the plot and that Paporakis was arrested on Sunday before he could return to the Hindu temple.
Investigators say they found a manifesto apparently written by the teen, who called himself “Aurora Shooter.” The writings “expressed hatred, violence, racial superiority, and mass shootings against Indians.” His hatred was against Jews, African-Americans, Indians and ‘non-whites’.
They say he “expressed pleasure in describing himself as a hate-filled sociopathic white supremacist neo-Nazi, fantasizing about mass murder almost every day.”
Paporakis faces gun-related charges and is accused of making a terroristic threat. A Cook County judge has now ordered him held without bail and put in place a jail health care order for the teen, noting that he is being treated for ADHD, depression, anxiety and receiving hormone injections for gender transition.
His public defender told NBC Chicago that statements from police and prosecutors are only allegations at this point and may change as the investigation continues.
The president of the Aurora Hindu Temple tells our team that, fortunately, they already have a strong security presence, and he praises the suburban police for thwarting the threat against their house of worship.
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