IBNS-CMEDIA: Palatine police in the US have said that the 19-year-old suspect arrested for allegedly plotting an attack on a Hindu temple in Aurora had been planning the attack for two years, according to media reports.
On Sunday, Alexandros Paporakis allegedly told a co-worker at Taco Bell that he was at a temple but his gun had jammed and he was on his way to get it fixed, Fox59 reported.
Authorities said the co-worker called 911 and alerted police. Investigators also found video evidence showing Paporakis’ car at the temple.
Police later tracked down the teenager and arrested him at the apartment where he lived with his mother.
“I think we were very fortunate that something much, much worse did not happen,” Palatine Police Chief Bill Nord was quoted as saying by Fox59.
Paporakis, a resident of Palatine, allegedly possessed a manifesto containing white supremacist ideologies and references to violence against people of Indian descent.
He appeared before a judge at the Cook County Third Municipal District Courthouse in Rolling Meadows, where he was ordered to remain in custody. His next hearing is scheduled for October 30.
The arrest comes just two weeks after the Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Dham Hindu Mandir in Richmond Heights, Ohio, was vandalised.
In a statement, Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi expressed gratitude to the suspect’s co-workers for alerting police and praised law enforcement for intervening.
“I am grateful to the suspect’s coworkers who alerted police and commend the law enforcement officers who intervened. Every American deserves to live and worship without fear, and we must stand together against hatred in all its forms,” he said.
