Judge orders Illinois teen held in Hindu temple attack plot

A Cook County judge ordered a 19-year-old Palatine man detained on Wednesday on charges of making a terrorist threat and unlawfully possessing a weapon, after prosecutors said he drove to a location in the Aurora, Illinois, area on Oct. 11 and tried to fire at a man before his rifle jammed.

Reading through the manifesto, he did state some extremist ideologies and talked about violence, he talked about mass killings and how he wanted to carry out this mass shooting

Alexandros Paporakis, a cashier at a Taco Bell in Arlington Heights, was arrested on Sunday afternoon as he was leaving his home in Palatine, a village in Chicago's northwest suburbs. He faces one count of making a terrorist threat and one count of unlawful possession of weapons. The Palatine Police Department announced the case on Wednesday.

Inside the detention hearing

Prosecutors with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office set out the allegations on Wednesday at a pretrial detention hearing in the Third Municipal District courthouse in Rolling Meadows. Paporakis was produced in court there after his arrest, and the judge ordered him detained and remanded to custody.

A newly filed court record described by NBC Chicago says Paporakis drove from his mother's home in Palatine to the Aurora temple on Sunday with a modified AR-style rifle. He tried to open fire, the gun jammed, and he drove home, where investigators say he searched the internet for instructions on clearing it.

Prosecutors said he had been planning the attack for two years. A court document obtained by The Associated Press quotes him describing himself as "a sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day."

Paporakis sent a coworker photographs of an AR-style rifle, a video of the weapon failing to fire, a photograph of himself in a tactical vest and a copy of his manifesto through the encrypted application Signal, prosecutors said. In the messages he said he was fortunate he had fired inside his vehicle, that nobody had seen him, and that he could "retry when I fix this."

The tip that reached police

The coworker told investigators that Paporakis called him on Sunday afternoon and said his gun had jammed and that he had gotten away "super-fast," according to the prosecution's account reported by FOX 32 Chicago. He had first sent a text message asking the coworker to call him. The coworker believed Paporakis was driving during the call.

The coworker and another employee called 911, and the Mount Prospect Police Department passed the information to Palatine police shortly after 3:30 p.m. Officers from both departments found Paporakis outside his residence in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court and took him into custody. The information originated from a person who reported receiving concerning electronic communications, police said.

A coworker told investigators that Paporakis openly identified himself as a white supremacist while working the register, regularly disparaged other racial groups, voiced hatred of Indian people and discussed Nazis and armed struggle, according to CBS Chicago's account of the hearing.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, prosecutors said, he told one coworker that he could not wait to kill Indian people and that he was planning an attack at the largest Hindu temple in Aurora. Another coworker told investigators that he described the following day as "a special day."

Detectives who searched the Palatine apartment recovered an AR-style rifle with no serial number, multiple loaded magazines, hundreds of additional rounds of ammunition, tactical equipment and a vest containing body armor, police and prosecutors said. Investigators also found a gas can and swastikas among the items tied to the alleged plot, prosecutors said. NBC Chicago described the ammunition as enough to fill ten magazines for reloading.

Police examined an eight-page document attributed to Paporakis and titled "Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter's Manifesto)." The Palatine Police Department said it contained statements expressing white supremacist and extremist ideologies, including references to violence directed toward people of South Asian heritage, especially those of Indian descent. Officials said the writings also expressed hatred of Jewish people and African Americans.

Federal and local agencies

The FBI's Chicago Field Office helped local investigators examine Paporakis's electronic equipment and communications, police said. Ryan Whalen, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Chicago office, said in a statement that the bureau works with state and local partners to dismantle threats of violence driven by radical ideologies, and credited the Palatine and Mount Prospect departments with taking the subject into custody "without harm to our community."

Aurora police were notified of the investigation and contacted Hindu places of worship within their jurisdiction.

The chairman of the Aurora temple told NBC Chicago that it already had a substantial security presence, and praised suburban police for foiling the threat. The temple was busy with worshippers and religious activities that Sunday, according to the station.

The Consulate General of India in Chicago said it appreciated the timely action by law enforcement and was in touch with members of the Indian diaspora while closely monitoring developments, the Press Trust of India reported. The Hindu American Foundation commended law enforcement for swift action in a social media post.

Defense and custody conditions

Paporakis's public defender told NBC Chicago that the statements from police and prosecutors are only allegations at this point and can change as the investigation continues. The judge ordered him detained pending trial.

The judge also entered a jailhouse healthcare order, noting that Paporakis is being treated for ADHD, depression and anxiety and receives hormone injections for gender transition, NBC Chicago reported. Prosecutors said he may have mental health issues, and a coworker told police he had been behaving manically over the weekend.

The counts and the calendar

The two counts against Paporakis are making a terrorist threat and unlawful possession of weapons, filed in Cook County. The charges were announced by Palatine police on Wednesday, the same day he appeared at the Rolling Meadows courthouse. He has been in custody since Sunday.

Paporakis lived with his mother at the Palatine address where he was arrested, and prosecutors said she had failed to stop him from buying a weapon.

Police statements and open questions

Nord, announcing the case on Wednesday, said the body armor recovered from the Palatine apartment carried white supremacist extremist designs. "The seriousness of this alleged threat cannot be overstated," he said.

Police have not released the name of the temple, and the coworker who contacted them has not been publicly identified. No injuries were reported.

Detectives believe Paporakis may have been planning to carry out the attack on Oct. 11, and NBC Chicago reported that he was arrested before he could return to the temple.

The arrest came during the Hindu festivals of Navaratri and Durga Puja, and two weeks after the Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Dham Hindu Mandir in Richmond Heights, Ohio, was vandalised, the Press Trust of India reported.

Palatine police said in their statement that the specific intended location has not been confirmed and remains under investigation. The account prosecutors gave in court, and the court record itself, describe the largest Hindu temple in Aurora.

Paporakis is scheduled to appear again at the Third Municipal District courthouse in Rolling Meadows on Oct. 30.