19-year-old arrested in Illinois for planning attack on Hindu place of worship
A 19-year-old man was arrested in Illinois for allegedly plotting a mass shooting targeting a Hindu place of worship. Authorities discovered a manifesto containing white supremacist ideologies and evidence of tactical planning.
Why it matters
The incident highlights the ongoing threat of domestic extremism and hate crimes targeting religious minority communities in the United States.
A 19-year-old man was arrested for plotting an attack “potentially targeting” a Hindu place of worship in the Aurora area in Illinois, with authorities recovering a manifesto expressing white supremacist ideologies and containing references to violence against people of “Indian descent.”
Alexandros Paporakis of Palatine was arrested on October 11 following an investigation into an alleged mass shooting plot.
Paporakis appeared for a detention hearing on Wednesday (October 14, 2026) at the Cook County Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows, where a judge ordered him detained. He is scheduled to appear in court again on October 30.
The arrest comes amid celebrations of Hindu festivals, including Navaratri, and just two weeks after the Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Dham Hindu Mandir in Richmond Heights, Ohio, was vandalised.
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