Illinois leaders called on the FBI to investigate a Palatine teenager's alleged mass shooting plot at a Hindu temple as a hate crime.
Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, who said he was at the temple in Aurora with his family when this happened, led the conference on Friday to show unity towards Indian Americans and other minority groups
Krishnamoorthi said his family, including his 80-year-old mother and 87-year-old father, were celebrating the start of the Hindu holiday of Navratri at the Aurora temple on October 11.
"I look back on Sunday. I don't know how the shooter's gun jammed," Krishnamoorthi said, choking back tears. "I don't know how my family and others escaped. I don't know how I happened to be there, but I believe that one purpose was so I could be here, and I could speak out about hate, and that has become one of my life's missions."
Krishnamoorthi called on the FBI to investigate this alleged plot as a hate crime, and he called on FBI Director Kash Patel to protect the "American people against domestic violent extremism."
Meantime, authorities released more details on what led up to the arrest of 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis.
The FBI said on Saturday, October 10, Paporakis told a coworker at the Taco Bell where he worked in Arlington Heights that he planned to kill Indian people, mentioning the largest Hindu temple in Aurora.
On Sunday, he told his coworker he had gone to carry out his plan to attack a Hindu temple, but his gun jammed.
Palatine police said surveillance video showed Paporakis' car entering the parking lot of a "known large Hindu temple" in Aurora at 12:25 p.m. Sunday, then leaving at 12:38 p.m.
Police arrested Paporakis outside his Palatine home Sunday afternoon.
While searching his home, police said they found a rifle, multiple loaded rifle magazines, hundreds of additional rounds of rifle ammunition, tactical equipment, a tactical vest containing body armor, and a patch with imagery associated with white supremacist extremism.
Officers also found an eight-page manifesto. Police said the manifesto indicated Paporakis was planning this attack "for some time." It is apparently filled with hateful thoughts toward non-white people, especially those who are Indian.
Authorities said that, in the manifesto, Paporakis described himself as "an ordinary white kid going to college and working. Underneath that façade was a sociopathic white supremacist neo-Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day."
Paporakis is charged in Cook County Circuit Court with one count of making a terrorist threat and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon.
Krishnamoorthi said he was shocked by the news of the arrest, and said no one at the temple had any idea what was transpiring outside.
"It was a very special day, it was the start of one of the high holidays for the Hindu religion, if you will, which is called Navaratri, and so huge crowds visited that temple that day," Krishnamoorthi said.
During the news conference on Friday, Krishnamoorthi shared stories of targeted attacks against Indian Americans, including remarks about "deportation" from a fellow lawyer and from the Trump Administration.
Krishnamoorthi called on public officials to condemn hate rather than remain silent.
"Hate toward minorities is not new in America; however, the explosive growth in hate toward Indian Americans is astonishing," He said.
The congressman pointed to anti-Indian rhetoric he's seen online.
The Illinois State Police tracks hate crime offenses reported by law enforcement agencies across the state, and its data shows, since 2021, nearly 2,000 total hate crimes were reported to the state:
The numbers grew exponentially between 2021 and 2022, increasing each year until the numbers took a slight dip in 2025.
This year, reports are on track to be fewer than last year.
Krishnamoorthi noted Paporakis has not yet been charged with a hate crime.
CBS News Chicago Legal Analyst Irv Miller said it's too soon to know if Paporakis eventually will face such charges.
"This case is going to be presented sometime between today and the next court date before the Cook County grand jury that sits at 26th and California. The grand jury will decide what eventual charges are going be, and I suspect that we're going to see more charges, maybe even a charge of attempted murder," he said.
Palatine and Mount Prospect police said they brought the FBI into their investigation shortly after receiving the tip about Paporakis' alleged plot. So far, there have been no federal charges in this case.
