A malfunction with an AR-style rifle is likely all that stopped a potential mass shooting at a Hindu temple in west suburban Aurora earlier this month. Now local members of the Hindu community are saying more can be done to prevent future attacks.
Last week, Palatine police arrested Alexandros Paporakis, 19, and charged him with felony counts of making a terrorist threat and unlawfully possessing a rifle.
After searching Paporakis’ residence, officials said, police found loaded magazines, tactical equipment and writings espousing white supremacist and anti-Indian viewpoints.
The attempted shooting took place while worshippers were gathered for the start of Navaratri, a holiday that celebrates “the good in the world — to understand the ways in which we can prosper amongst each other,” said Rishab Chatty, leader of the Chicago chapter of Hindus for Human Rights.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois) was inside the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple with members of his family at the time the suspect allegedly arrived in the temple’s parking lot.
“Countless people were there,” Krishnamoorthi said. “Only later did we learn there was a gunman outside, laying in wait with a semi-automatic weapon.”
Krishnamoorthi said the suspect’s manifesto also included hate speech directed against Black and Jewish communities.
“This mirrors of course the hatred that we see online towards Indian Americans, South Asians in general and Hindu Americans,” Krishnamoorthi said. “And as you know, that rhetoric can quickly transform to violence.”
Krishnamoorthi called for a federal hate crime investigation into the suspect’s plot, saying an investigation can direct attention to the rise in hate faced by many communities.
The alleged shooting plot is just the latest incident in what Chatty said is a trend of rising hate directed at Hindu, South Asian and other religious and ethnic minorities.
Since 9/11, Chatty said, South Asian and Arab communities, as well as Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, have faced elevated amounts of surveillance and harassment.
“It’s something that’s been happening over the last few decades,” Chatty said. “It’s not something new, but we’re seeing that start to manifest more and more in violent means today.”
“Folks in America tend to be radicalized when they see themselves as an ‘us versus other’ category,” Chatty said. “When they see themselves struggling to maintain job security, struggling to afford food, to afford housing, to afford healthcare, people want to find somebody to blame. And the people that they find to blame are minority groups.”
Increasingly, this pipeline for radicalization is supercharged by social media. A report from the Center for the Study of Organized Hate found a 240% increase in posts on X containing anti-South Asian hate between January 2024 and June 2026.
Last month, a viral post from Bo French, a Republican candidate for Texas’ Railroad Commission, included a picture of South Asian students at a University of Texas football game and referred to them as a “problem.”
“Unfortunately, Big Tech is profiting off of this hate,” Krishnamoorthi said. “… We have to, at the federal level, make sure they face the full consequences of not taking actions.”
Krishnamoorthi said the community that worships at the Aurora temple is shaken, but not necessarily fearful of returning. Amid an increased security presence, he said there’s also a resolve to keep worshipping.
“You have to be yourself, whoever you are, and you have to practice your beliefs whatever they are,” Krishnamoorthi said. “Doing anything different is what the attackers want.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
