One hundred and five members of the United States Congress have written to FBI Director Kash Patel urging the Bureau to investigate the attempted mass shooting at the Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Hindu temple in Aurora, Illinois, as a potential federal hate crime. The letter, led by Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi and sent on October 20, demands written answers from Patel by October 29 — on whether the FBI is treating the case as a hate crime, whether anyone online helped the suspect, and what the Bureau is doing about the surge of threats targeting Indian Americans, Hindu Americans, Sikhs and other South Asian communities.
The letter carries a weight few congressional letters do, because Krishnamoorthi was inside the temple when the attack was attempted. On Sunday, October 11, he was worshipping there with his family — his 80-year-old mother and 87-year-old father were singing Hindu prayers and bhajans as thousands of worshippers packed the temple at 1145 Sullivan Road in Aurora, about 40 miles west of Chicago, for the first day of Navaratri, one of the holiest festivals in Hinduism. His family has worshipped at the Balaji temple, the largest Hindu temple in Illinois, for about 40 years. None of them knew a gunman was in the parking lot.
The 105 signers span the Illinois House Democratic delegation in full, every Indian American member of Congress — Representatives Pramila Jayapal, Ami Bera, Ro Khanna, Shri Thanedar and Suhas Subramanyam — and four senators: Dick Durbin, Tammy Duckworth, Andy Kim and Chris Van Hollen. In the letter, the lawmakers tell Patel: “The alleged combination of targeted racial hatred, a religious setting, and preparations for mass violence demands a comprehensive federal response. We appreciate the FBI’s reported assistance to local investigators and urge the Bureau to ensure that potential hate-crime violations receive explicit attention.”
The lawmakers put five questions to the FBI Director and asked for the answers in writing by October 29, 2026. First: is the FBI investigating the Aurora plot as a potential federal hate crime, examining both racial or ethnic bias and religious bias, and coordinating with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the local U.S. Attorney’s Office? Second: did the suspect use online platforms to communicate threats, choose his target or get help — and did anyone encourage or materially assist him? Third: what is the Bureau doing to identify credible online threats against Indian, Hindu, Sikh and other South Asian Americans, and how does it separate those threats from speech the First Amendment protects? Fourth: how is threat information shared with state and local police and with the houses of worship in the crosshairs, and what protection is being offered to the communities affected? Fifth: does the FBI have the personnel, language skills and analytical capacity to assess threats driven by anti-South Asian bias — and what more does it need?
What those questions rest on is a ten-minute visit that surveillance cameras recorded in full. Police say a red Acura RDX registered to 19-year-old Alexandros Paporakis of Palatine rolled into the Balaji temple’s parking lot at about 12:25 p.m. on October 11 and pulled out again 13 minutes later. Before 2 p.m., the car was back in Palatine, some 40 miles away, with Paporakis alone inside it. Thousands of worshippers had been inside the temple the entire time, unaware.
Cook County prosecutors allege that in those 13 minutes, Paporakis tried to shoot a man outside the temple from his car — and his AR-style rifle jammed. Paporakis, a Taco Bell cashier who prosecutors say openly identified himself at work as a white supremacist and neo-Nazi, had allegedly spent two years planning a mass shooting and two months fixing on the Aurora temple as his target. On Saturday, October 10, he allegedly told a coworker he was planning “it” at the largest Hindu temple in Aurora, and told another that Sunday “was going to be a special day.” Around 1:30 p.m. on the Sunday itself, prosecutors say, he messaged a coworker that the rifle had jammed and that he intended to “retry when I fix this” — sending along images of the rifle failing to fire, a photograph of himself in a tactical vest, and his manifesto. Palatine police, for their part, have been careful with the detail at the center of the story: at their October 15 news conference they said they had not independently confirmed the jam, or where the video of the failing rifle was recorded.
The message that prosecutors say Paporakis sent is what stopped him. The coworker contacted Mount Prospect police, who alerted Palatine police, and officers arrested the 19-year-old that Sunday evening as he left his home in the 1300 block of North Baldwin Court in Palatine. Palatine Police Chief William Nord said the investigation points to one man acting alone: “Our investigation has revealed, and it can be confirmed as of right now, that he has been alone in this plan.” Nord added: “The seriousness of this alleged threat cannot be overstated.”
What officers found when they searched his home is the physical evidence behind the plot prosecutors describe: an AR-style rifle, several loaded magazines, hundreds of rounds of ammunition — about 300 rounds in all — a tactical vest fitted with body armor and a patch bearing white supremacist imagery, a gas can, and Nazi memorabilia. Investigators also recovered an eight-page manifesto prosecutors attribute to Paporakis, titled “Why I Fought: A.K.A. (Aurora Shooter’s Manifesto).” In it, prosecutors allege, he described Indian, Jewish and Black people as “subhumans,” called himself “a sociopathic white supremacist neo-Nazi filled with hatred,” and set out violence against people of Indian descent at a Hindu house of worship.
Paporakis is charged in Cook County with one count of making a terrorist threat — a Class X felony, the most serious category of felony in Illinois short of murder — and one count of unlawfully possessing a rifle with a barrel under 16 inches. A judge ordered him held without bond at a detention hearing in Rolling Meadows on Wednesday, October 14, and he is due back in court on October 30. He is represented by the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, which has stressed that everything alleged against him is unproven. No federal charges have been filed. The FBI assisted the local investigation from the start, and federal charges have not been ruled out; FBI Chicago Special Agent in Charge Ryan Whalen has said the Bureau works with its state and local partners to confront violence driven by radical ideologies.
That gap — a state terrorist-threat case, but no federal hate-crime case — is exactly what the congressional letter is aimed at. A federal hate-crime investigation would put the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division on the case alongside the FBI, would let investigators pursue the bias motive itself as a federal offense, and would open the door to examining the online networks the lawmakers ask about: who the suspect talked to, who cheered him on, and whether the plot had help. It is also why the letter presses Patel on resources — whether the Bureau even has the people and the language expertise to track threats written in the languages and coded slang of anti-South Asian extremism.
Krishnamoorthi has spoken about that Sunday with an emotion that explains why he led the letter. “I don’t know how the shooter’s gun jammed. I don’t know how my family & others escaped. I don’t know how I happened to be there, but I believe that one purpose was so I could be here, and I could speak out about hate, and that has become one of my life’s missions,” he said. In his formal statement he was blunt: “I am horrified that a white supremacist attempted to carry out a mass shooting targeting Indian Americans at the Hindu temple in Aurora where my family worships. My family and I were there when the attack was attempted last Sunday… Every American deserves to live and worship without fear, and we must stand together against hatred in all its forms.” He also said he would call on the FBI to investigate and prosecute the case as a hate crime, has increased his own security, and has urged the federal government to release nonprofit security grants for houses of worship.
The letter backs its demand with numbers on the climate around the case. A September 2026 report counted more than 542,000 anti-South Asian hateful posts on X between January 2025 and June 2026, with the monthly volume rising about 240 percent between January 2024 and June 2026. A separate survey found that 48 percent of Indian American respondents said they had encountered racist posts targeting their community very or somewhat often since the start of 2025, and that one in four had personally been called a slur. The lawmakers conclude: “No one should fear being targeted because of their ancestry, appearance, or faith, and no congregation should have to wonder whether gathering for worship will make its members targets of mass violence. We urge the FBI to investigate the evidence fully, pursue all applicable offenses, and provide affected communities with a clear account of the steps being taken to protect them.”
The letter also takes direct aim at the administration’s own messaging, citing a Department of Homeland Security post that depicted a Sikh man with the words “Get off our roads, you don’t know how to drive Mr. Singh,” and a Department of Education post declaring “Make College Football Great Again” after a Texas Republican complained about South Asians at a University of Texas football game. “We believe such messaging risks lending governmental legitimacy to racial and religious stereotyping,” the lawmakers wrote. “Federal agencies should make clear that debates over immigration or public safety never justify collective suspicion of Indian, Sikh, Hindu, or other South Asian communities.” Patel has not publicly responded to the letter.
The condemnation around the case has crossed party and national lines. Aurora Mayor John Laesch said he was “deeply saddened and disturbed” that members of a Hindu temple had been targeted: “No one should ever feel threatened, unsafe, or attacked for freely practicing their faith or attending a place of worship… Let me be clear: hate has no place in our community.” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said: “Hate has no home in Illinois. We must condemn the rise in violence against the Indian American community.” The Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus warned the case “cannot be viewed in isolation,” saying it “exposes the very real danger white supremacist ideology poses to our communities and houses of worship.” And India’s foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal called the alleged plot a “matter of deep concern” for New Delhi, urging American authorities to ensure the safety and well-being of Indian nationals and to bring those responsible to justice. The temple itself has confirmed the threat against it and has stepped up security, including a visibly increased armed presence.
Two dates now decide what happens next. Patel’s written answers to Congress are due by October 29. Paporakis returns to a Cook County courtroom on October 30, still held without bond, still presumed innocent of charges the state has yet to prove. Whether the Aurora case stays a state prosecution or becomes the federal hate-crime investigation 105 members of Congress are demanding is, for now, a question sitting on the FBI Director’s desk.
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