How authorities say a jammed gun and Taco Bell workers prevented a possible mass shooting at an Aurora temple
A jammed gun and workers at an Arlington Heights Taco Bell restaurant prevented a potentially devastating mass shooting Sunday at a Hindu temple in Aurora.
Those were among the details to emerge Thursday as authorities released additional information about the arrest of a 19-year-old Palatine man accused of plotting a terrorist attack on the Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple.
Cook County prosecutors said Alexandros Paporakis told a Taco Bell co-worker he had gone to the temple Sunday and attempted to shoot someone from his car, but his rifle jammed.
He indicated that he intended to return later Sunday to try again, but a co-worker called 911 and stopped the potential massacre, authorities said.
“I want to thank that individual for their bravery,” Lucas Rothaar, the acting special agent in charge of the FBI’s Chicago Field Office, said during a news conference Thursday morning in Palatine.
Paporakis is being held in Cook County Jail on charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of weapons. He is scheduled to return to court Oct. 30.
Palatine police said they arrested Paporakis Sunday as he left his home in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court. Investigators later found a manifesto attributed to Paporakis titled “Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto)” and containing statements expressing white supremacist and extremist ideologies, police said.
Police said officers also discovered weapons, hundreds of rounds of rifle ammunition, tactical equipment, body armor and a patch containing imagery associated with white supremacist extremism at Paporakis’ home.
Palatine Police Chief William Nord said investigators identified a red Acura RDX registered to Paporakis entering the parking lot of the temple at about 12:25 p.m. Sunday then leaving 13 minutes later.
“Our investigation has revealed, and it can be confirmed as of right now, that he has been alone in this plan,” he said. “He did reveal some details in the manifesto that he has been planning this for some time.”
Paporakis has been living in Palatine with his mother for approximately a year, but police had no previous contacts with him, Nord said.
His mother has been questioned but is not cooperating with the investigation, he added.
Paporakis shared his intentions with co-workers at the fast-food restaurant where he has worked as a cashier for about seven months, according to Cook County prosecutors. He openly identified as a white supremacist at work and often discussed Nazis and an armed struggle, while making disparaging comments about people of other races, including people from India.
As Sunday approached, Paporakis’ rhetoric ramped up, prosecutors said.
During a work shift Saturday, prosecutors said, he told a co-worker he couldn’t wait to kill Indian people and was planning “it” at the largest temple in Aurora.
He told another co-worker that Sunday was going to be a special day, authorities say.
On Sunday, Paporakis contacted a co-worker at about 1:30 p.m. by text, wanting to talk, according to prosecutors. When the co-worker called, Paporakis said his gun had jammed and he got out of there “superfast.”
Paporakis then sent the co-worker a video showing an AR-style rifle, demonstrating how the gun failed to fire when the trigger was pulled, prosecutors said.
Paporakis also sent a photo of himself wearing a tactical vest and said the man he fired at was “certainly saved by his God today,” according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors say his eight-page manifesto used racially charged slurs about people of Indian ancestry, Jews and Blacks, describing them as “subhumans” and wanting to kill as many of them as possible.
He described himself as “an ordinary white kid going to college and working” on the surface, but underneath the facade was “a sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day,” prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Paporakis has been planning the attack for up to two years, and had studied the temple location via YouTube and Google Streetview.
szalusky@dailyherald.com
szalusky@dailyherald.com