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A thwarted mass shooting targeting a large Hindu temple in suburban Chicago was fueled by years of hateful rhetoric on social media against Hindus and Indians, community leaders say.<\/p>\n
Authorities on Wednesday arrested Alexandros Paporakis, 19, who they said drove to the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple<\/a> in Aurora, Illinois, on Sunday afternoon, armed with a rifle and body armor. Officials said he remained in the parking lot for several minutes, but left after his weapon jammed. Paporakis was arrested later that day near his home in Palatine, Illinois, after a co-worker at a Taco Bell alerted authorities to his plan to \u201ckill Indian people.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n The temple, the largest in Aurora, was crowded Sunday with thousands observing the first day of Navaratri<\/a>, a nine-night celebration of Shakti — the divine feminine energy believed to be foundational to all creation. <\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois\u2019 8th congressional district, said he and his parents were inside the temple Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cLittle did we know there was an attacker outside with sinister intent,\u201d he said Thursday. \u201cThis has really shaken us.\u201d<\/p>\n During a news conference Friday morning in Chicago, Krishnamoorthi stood with several other faith and civic leaders calling for the attempted mass shooting to be investigated as a hate crime. Speakers also called for an organized community response to prevent hate and extremism targeting all communities.<\/p>\n Pushpita Prasad, a spokesperson for the Coalition of Hindus of North America, said attacks against Hindus and Indians have been escalating in recent years. She said the racial slurs are increasingly visible online. <\/p>\n \u201cYou see vitriolic posts associating Indians with dirt and creating disgust about their appearance, food and cultural practices,\u201d she said. \u201cSooner or later, all that online hate is going to migrate to the real world.\u201d<\/p>\n Over the past two years, the rising wave of anti-Hindu hate has included a rash of vandalism and attacks across the country. Most recently, on Oct. 3, vandals hurled bricks at a Hindu temple in Richmond Heights, Ohio, shattering several windows while devotees were praying inside.<\/p>\n In June 2025, a gunman fired bullets into the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork<\/a>, Utah, causing thousands of dollars in damage. In Sugar Land, Texas, a 90-foot statue of the deity Hanuman, consecrated in 2024 at a temple complex, continues to draw disparaging comments, including one YouTube personality who recently urged its demolition. <\/p>\n In Frisco, Texas, where people of Indian origin make up about one-third of the population, speakers have used public comment periods during city council meetings to label the Indian community as \u201cinvaders,” characterize Hindu temples as a threat and accuse H-1B work visa holders of stealing American jobs or committing fraud.<\/p>\n Temple administrators in Aurora issued a statement Thursday assuring the community that they value the safety of devotees, employees and volunteers, and have implemented additional security measures including an \u201carmed security presence.\u201d<\/p>\n Krishnamoorthi said the temple, situated on 20 acres, is a cultural hub for the community in the Chicago area. It has been his family\u2019s home away from home for about 40 years, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cFor people who were newly immigrated, this became their connection to the homeland,\u201d Krishnamoorthi said.<\/p>\n The temple serves as a venue for concerts, dance performances, birthdays and weddings, and the cafeteria that serves South Indian cuisine is popular, he said.<\/p>\n Krishnamoorthi called for the FBI to prosecute this incident as a hate crime, and for social media companies to end the hateful rhetoric online.<\/p>\n \u201cThe FBI also needs to redirect resources to combat domestic violent extremism,\u201d he said. \u201cElection fraud and immigration are not the biggest threats facing our country.\u201d<\/p>\n Joel Finkelstein with the New Jersey-based Network Contagion Research Institute, which tracks cyber-social threats, said in 2025, anti-Indian content on X tripled in weekly volume. The administration\u2019s changes in immigration policies, particularly relating to the H1-B visa<\/a>, corresponded with measurable surges in racial slurs and deportation rhetoric targeting Indians, he said.<\/p>\n Amid the increase in online hate, Finkelstein said the South Asian community in the U.S., despite significant resources, lacks the ability to advocate for itself with strength and unity.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is nothing to stop it from getting worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sravya Tadepalli, executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, says her organization has formed strong coalitions with Muslim, Sikh and other organizations whose members also face hate. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s important to understand that rhetoric is not just rhetoric,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is harmful and can result in violence.\u201d<\/p>\n Manjusha P. Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, said her organization\u2019s research showed that online slurs targeting South Asians rose 109% from 2023 to 2025. Statistics aside, Kulkarni said she was personally shaken by the threat in Illinois.<\/p>\n \u201cIt hits all of us who are temple goers,\u201d she said. \u201cSeeing how going to my house of worship can put me and my children at risk is very scary.\u201d<\/p>\n AAPI Hate pointed to \u201cxenophobic policies and rhetoric” that depict Indian people as a demographic threat \u2014 including Vice President JD Vance calling H1-B workers \u201cindentured servants”<\/a> and Bo French, the Republican candidate for Texas’ Railroad Commission calling South Asian students at a Longhorns football game<\/a> \u201ca problem.” French’s post led to a flurry of other posts on social media calling for violence against Indian communities, including desecrating Hindu temples and statues.<\/p>\n Last month, a Sikh truck driver was stabbed in Wyoming<\/a>, days after the Department of Homeland Security published a derogatory social media post about Sikh truck drivers.<\/p>\n Pardeep Kaleka\u2019s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was one of six people killed in 2012 in a mass shooting<\/a> at their gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin \u2013 the deadliest anti-Sikh attack in the U.S. The shooter, Wade Michael Page, was a self-proclaimed white supremacist. <\/p>\n After Paporakis\u2019 arrest in Illinois, authorities said they recovered weapons, ammunition, a gas canister labeled with a slur referring to South Asians and several items depicting Nazi symbols. Officials said Paporakis wrote a manifesto in which he fantasized about mass murder and expressed his desire to kill as many non-white people as he could.<\/p>\n Kaleka, who co-wrote a book with a former white supremacist about his own journey of forgiveness after the Sikh temple shooting, said the young men who perpetrate these attacks don\u2019t pop up suddenly.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people who do this have lost hope, and their motivation is also to have you and society lose hope,\u201d he said. \u201cTheir belief is if you can attack people in the space they hold most sacred, it plants a deep terror in communities.\u201d<\/p>\n The solution is to have candid conversations across racial and religious boundaries so people can understand each other at a human level, Kaleka said. \u201cUnless that happens, we\u2019re more likely to see division rather than a collective spirit that joins us together.”<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP\u2019s collaboration<\/a> with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n