WASHINGTON — More than a hundred members of Congress want the FBI to treat an attempted temple shooting as a hate-crime case. In a letter led by Illinois Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi — and signed by 105 lawmakers, including every Indian American member of Congress — legislators urged FBI Director Kash Patel to investigate the October 11 attempt at the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois, as a potential federal hate crime.
Krishnamoorthi and his family were worshipping at the temple when the attempted attack occurred. The lawmakers also demanded answers about the FBI's efforts to identify and address credible online threats targeting Indian Americans, Hindu Americans and other South Asian communities.
According to prosecutors, 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis, a self-identified neo-Nazi, tried to shoot a man outside the temple, but his rifle jammed. He fled and later communicated plans to return before a coworker alerted police, who arrested him that day. Prosecutors allege he authored an eight-page white supremacist manifesto describing violence against people of Indian descent at a Hindu house of worship, and investigators recovered a rifle, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, body armor and white supremacist imagery.
'The alleged combination of targeted racial hatred, a religious setting, and preparations for mass violence demands a comprehensive federal response,' the lawmakers wrote. 'We appreciate the FBI's reported assistance to local investigators and urge the Bureau to ensure that potential hate-crime violations receive explicit attention.'
