“Couldn’t Wait to Kill Indian People”: Illinois Teen Held Over Temple Attack Plot

A 19-year-old has been arrested in Illinois over an alleged plan to attack Aurora’s largest Hindu temple. Read what police and prosecutors say

PGurus Newsdesk

October 15, 2026

FBI and local police acted fast, and Hindu places of worship in Aurora were alerted

Prosecutors say co-workers reported his comments, and he wrote a manifesto about mass killings

Police in a Chicago suburb say they have foiled a possible mass shooting by arresting a 19-year-old man who allegedly planned to attack a Hindu place of worship in Illinois.

The accused and the charges

Alexandros Paporakis, a fast-food cashier from Palatine, Illinois, faces felony charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawfully possessing weapons. Investigators believe he planned to target the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, though the exact intended location is still being examined. A judge ruled on Wednesday that he will remain in jail until trial.

How police got on to him

Palatine police said Mount Prospect police contacted them on Sunday after someone received “concerning electronic communications” from Paporakis. He was arrested that evening outside his home. Police recovered a rifle, ammunition and tactical gear from the house.

What prosecutors allege

Prosecutors say that on Saturday, Paporakis told a co-worker he was planning “it” at the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, and told another that Sunday would be a “special day.” Co-workers also said he openly described himself as a white supremacist at work and said he couldn’t wait to kill Indian people.

Investigators said he wrote a manifesto containing extremist ideology and talk of mass killings. In it, he allegedly wrote that he had been planning an attack for two years and had settled on the specific location two months earlier.

Court documents cited by prosecutors, as reported by one network, go further. They claim he drove to the temple on Sunday and fired his gun, but it jammed. After fleeing, he allegedly tried to fix the rifle and sent the manifesto to a co-worker, calling himself a white supremacist and neo-Nazi. Other accounts describe the case only as a thwarted plot, so this detail should be checked against court records.

Community outreach

The Palatine Police Department said the FBI’s Chicago Field Office helped with the investigation. Aurora Police were informed and reached out to Hindu places of worship in their area. Police said they have found no known ongoing threat to the public.

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