A 19-year-old Taco Bell cashier from Palatine, Illinois, was one jammed rifle away from a mass shooting at a Hindu temple, according to police and a court record.
Alexandros Paporakis is charged with making a terrorist threat, a Class X felony, and unlawful possession of weapons, including a rifle with a barrel shorter than 16 inches, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. A judge ordered him held in jail before trial. He's due back in court Oct. 30.
What police say happened
According to a newly filed court record reported by NBC Chicago, on Sunday, Oct. 11, Paporakis drove from his mother's home in Palatine to the largest Hindu temple in Aurora. He had a modified AR-style rifle, 300 rounds of ammunition, body armor, gasoline cans and swastikas.
He tried to open fire, but the gun jammed, the record says. He drove home, searched the internet for how to unjam it, and called a coworker to say he planned a mass shooting.
Prosecutors say he told that coworker the gun had jammed and he'd left "super fast" without being seen, the Associated Press reports. He had told coworkers Sunday would be "a special day."
Thursday's police update
At a news conference Thursday, Palatine police said surveillance video shows Paporakis's car entering the parking lot of a "known large Hindu temple" in Aurora at 12:25 p.m. Sunday and leaving at 12:38 p.m., CBS Chicago reports. Video showed he appeared to be driving and was alone in the car. Police said they won't release the temple's name.
Police say he acted alone. "Our investigation has revealed and confirmed as of right now that he has been alone in this planning," Chief Nord said, according to ABC7 Chicago.
Prosecutors say he tried to fire his gun at a man when it jammed, and court records say he had been planning the attack for two years, ABC7 reports.
A coworker spoke up
Co-workers told police Paporakis had sent them a plan for a mass shooting and photos of tactical gear, and that he openly called himself a white supremacist at work. Police arrested him Sunday as he was leaving his home. In a search, detectives found a rifle with no serial number, loaded magazines, hundreds of rounds, a tactical vest with body armor, and a gas can labelled with a slur aimed at South Asians.
"The seriousness of this alleged threat cannot be overstated," Palatine Police Chief William Nord said.
The manifesto
Prosecutors say he sent a coworker an eight-page document titled "Why I fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter's Manifesto)." It called Indian, Jewish and African American people "subhumans" and laid out a plan to kill as many of them as possible. In it, he described himself as "a sociopathic white supremacist Neo Nazi filled with hatred, fantasizing about mass murder nearly every day."
What the AP left out
He is on cross-sex hormones. A Cook County judge issued a jail health care order that says he is being treated for ADHD, depression and anxiety and "receives hormone injections for gender transition," NBC Chicago reports.
The Associated Press story on the case doesn't mention the hormones.
His public defender told NBC Chicago that what police and prosecutors have said are allegations that could change as the investigation goes on.
The temple's chairman told NBC Chicago the temple already has strong security, and praised police for stopping the threat.
Cover: arrest image from CBS News Chicago video; booking photo from Palatine Police Department
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