Community leaders say years of hateful rhetoric against Hindus and Indians on social media fueled a mass shooting at a large Hindu temple in suburban Chicago.
watch: The role of social media in fueling extremism and misinformation in a divided political climate
On Wednesday, authorities arrested 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis, saying he drove to the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple in Aurora, Illinois, on Sunday afternoon and was armed with a rifle and body armor. He remained in the parking lot for several minutes but left after the weapon became jammed, officials said. Papolakis was arrested later that day near his home in Palatine, Illinois, after a co-worker at a Taco Bell restaurant informed authorities of his plan to “kill Indians.”
Aurora’s largest temple was packed with thousands of people on Sunday to celebrate the first day of Navratri, a nine-night celebration of Shakti – the divine feminine energy believed to be the basis of all creation.
U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, said he and his parents were at the temple Sunday afternoon.
“Little did we know there was an attacker out there with sinister intentions,” he said Thursday. “It really shook us up.”
At a news conference in Chicago on Friday morning, Krishnamoorthy stood with several other religious and civic leaders in calling for mass shootings to be investigated as hate crimes. Speakers also called for an organized community response to prevent hate and extremism against all communities.
Hindus face online hate and real-world threats
Pushpita Prasad, spokesperson for the Hindu Federation of North America, said attacks against Hindus and Indians have escalated in recent years. She said racial discrimination is becoming more and more obvious online.
“You’ll see vitriolic posts that associate Indians with dirtiness and elicit disgust about their appearance, food and cultural practices,” she said. “Sooner or later, all the hate online transfers to the real world.”
There has been a rising tide of anti-Hindu hatred over the past two years, with a series of incidents of vandalism and attacks across the country. Most recently on October 3, vandals threw bricks at a Hindu temple in Richmond Heights, Ohio, smashing several windows as worshipers prayed inside.
In June 2025, a gunman opened fire at the Sri Sri Radha Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork, Utah, causing thousands of dollars in damage. In Sugar Land, Texas, a 90-foot-tall statue of Hanuman was consecrated in a temple complex in 2024, but it continues to draw disparaging comments, including one YouTube celebrity who recently urged its removal.
In Frisco, Texas, where Indian Americans make up about a third of the population, speakers used public comment time during a city council meeting to label the Indian community “invaders,” describe Hindu temples as a threat and accuse H-1B work visa holders of stealing American jobs or committing fraud.
Leaders call for resources to fight hate and extremism
Aurora temple officials issued a statement Thursday to assure the community that they take the safety of worshipers, staff and volunteers seriously and have implemented additional security measures, including “armed security personnel.”
Krishnamoorthi said the temple, which covers 20 acres, is a cultural hub for the Chicago-area community. He said it has been his family’s second home for about 40 years.
“For new immigrants, it becomes their connection to their home country,” Krishnamoorthy said.
The temple is a venue for concerts, dance performances, birthdays and weddings, and the buffet restaurant serving South Indian cuisine is popular, he said.
Krishnamoorthy called on the FBI to prosecute the incident as a hate crime and on social media companies to end hate speech online.
“The FBI also needs to realign resources to counter domestic violent extremism,” he said. “Elector fraud and immigration are not the biggest threats facing our country.”
The weekly volume of anti-India content on X tripled by 2025, said Joel Finkelstein of the New Jersey-based Internet Contagion Institute, which tracks social threats online. He said the administration’s changes in immigration policy, particularly related to H1-B visas, corresponded with a significant increase in racial slurs and deportation rhetoric against Indians.
Finkelstein said South Asian communities in the United States, despite their vast resources, lack the ability to defend themselves with strength and unity amid rising online hate.
“Nothing can stop it from getting worse,” he said.
Supporters say xenophobia fuels hatred
Sravya Tadepalli, executive director of Hindus for Human Rights, said her organization has built strong alliances with Muslim, Sikh and other groups whose members also face hate.
“It’s important to understand that rhetoric is more than just rhetoric,” she said. “This is harmful and can lead to violence.”
Manjusha P. Kulkarni, co-founder of Stop AAPI Hate, said the organization’s research shows that online defamation against South Asians will increase by 109% from 2023 to 2025. Statistics aside, Kulkarni said she is personally alarmed by the threat in Illinois.
“This is a shock to all of us who go to temples,” she said. “It’s very scary to see that going to church could put me and my children at risk.”
AAPI Hate noted that “xenophobic policies and rhetoric” have portrayed Indians as a demographic threat, including Vice President J.D. Vance calling H1-B workers “indentured servants” and Bo French, the Republican candidate for the Texas Railroad Commission, calling South Asian students attending Longhorns football games a “problem.” French’s post sparked a flurry of other posts on social media calling for violence against the Indian community, including the desecration of Hindu temples and statues.
A Sikh truck driver was stabbed in Wyoming last month, days after the Department of Homeland Security posted a derogatory social media post about a Sikh truck driver.
Sikh temple shooting survivor stresses need for meaningful dialogue
Pardeep Kaleka’s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, was one of six people killed in the 2012 mass shooting in Oak Brook, Wisconsin, the deadliest anti-Sikh attack in the United States. The shooter, Wade Michael Page, described himself as a white supremacist.
After Papolakis was arrested in Illinois, authorities said they seized weapons, ammunition, a gas canister labeled with a South Asian slur and items bearing swastikas. Officials said Papolakis wrote a manifesto in which he fantasized about mass murder and expressed his desire to kill as many non-white people as possible.
Kaleka, who co-authored a book with a former white supremacist about his own journey to forgiveness after the Sikh temple shooting, said the young men who carried out the attacks did not appear out of nowhere.
“Most people who do this have lost hope, and their motivation is to make you and society lose hope,” he said. “Their belief is that if you can attack people in what they consider to be their most sacred place, it will create deep fear in the community.”
Kaleka said the solution is to have honest conversations across racial and religious lines so that people can understand each other on a human level. “Unless that happens, we are more likely to see division than the collective spirit that brings us together.”
A free press is the cornerstone of a healthy democracy.
Support trustworthy journalism and civil dialogue.