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Police in Palatine, Illinois, have charged 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis with making a terrorist threat after he allegedly drove to a large Hindu temple in Aurora on Sunday, October 11, planning a mass shooting, CBS Chicago reported. His rifle jammed, and he left. Police say a co-worker's report led to his arrest the same day.
Surveillance video shows his red Acura entering the temple parking lot at 12:25 p.m. and leaving about 13 minutes later, according to police. Paporakis allegedly told a co-worker he had gone to carry out the plan but that his gun jammed. Over an extended conversation on the Signal messaging app, he sent photos of an AR-style rifle and of himself in a tactical vest. The co-worker contacted Mount Prospect police, who alerted Palatine police.
Officers who searched his home found a rifle, several loaded magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and a tactical vest with body armor. The vest carried a patch with white supremacist imagery. They also recovered an eight-page manifesto. Police say it contains white supremacist ideology and references to violence against people of South Asian descent.
Paporakis faces one count of making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony, and one count of unlawfully possessing a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches. A judge ordered him held at a hearing in Rolling Meadows on Wednesday. His next appearance is October 30. The Cook County Public Defender's Office, which represents him, noted that the allegations are unproven, WTTW reported.
No federal charges have been filed, though the FBI said they are not ruled out. FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Ryan Whalen said the bureau works with state and local partners on violence driven by radical ideologies.
Police have not named the temple. U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said he and his family worship there and were present that day, the first day of Navaratri, when crowds were large. "We have to do everything we can to stop this," he said. Police say Paporakis appears to have acted alone and planned for some time. He had no prior contact with either police department. Investigators are still working to establish where he obtained the weapons and why the date mattered to him. Aurora police have notified Hindu places of worship in their jurisdiction.
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