A 19-year-old man has been arrested in the United States over an alleged mass shooting plot that could have targeted a Hindu place of worship in Aurora, Illinois, raising concerns over the safety of Hindu religious sites and Indian-origin communities in the country.
Identified as Alexandros Paporakis, a resident of Palatine and a Taco Bell cashier, was arrested after investigators recovered a document expressing white supremacist and extremist ideologies, including references to violence against people of South Asian heritage, particularly those of Indian descent. The arrest comes during the Hindu festive season, which began with Navaratri, and about two weeks after the Shree Swaminarayan Vadtal Dham Hindu Mandir in Richmond Heights, Ohio, was vandalised.
