Congressman discusses alleged shooting plot at Aurora Hindu temple

You want to get back to that alleged mass shooting plot and the teen whose rifle jammed right outside a Hindu temple in Aurora. Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthy says he and his family were there. It's where his family worships. He joins us now. Congressman, thanks so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, where were you on Sunday? So that is the start of one of the high holidays in Hinduism called Navaratri. So my family and I were at that temple, which we frequented for some 40 years. And my parents were there the entire day, by the way. And today I just learned that this mass shooter came to the temple, had something like 300 rounds of ammunition and his AR-15 jammed preventing him from committing a massacre on the hundreds if not thousands of people who were visiting that temple that day so it felt like any other Sunday for for you and your family when did you uh first find out something was wrong was it when police made this public on Wednesday or did you know before then no i had no idea until this announcement by the police came out late last night. And I commend law enforcement, the Palatine Police Department, as well as Mount Prospect Police Department for acting quickly when they learned that this shooter was going to go back to the temple to once again attempt a mass shooting. And thank God they were able to stop him. Finding out after the fact, I have to imagine, has to be eerily strange. What went through your mind about your family being there? I think everybody's shaken this morning. I think, you know, I am horrified that this violent extremist rhetoric that we see online has now translated into violence. And, by the way, I should just say that, you know, countless people have been victimized by this rhetoric. And one man, for instance, Mr. Singh in Wyoming, was actually stabbed 17 times after the week before that. The Department of Homeland Security actually posted a tweet saying, Mr. Singh, self-deport or else. And they showed a picture of a man with a turban, obviously a Sikh American. And then somebody went out and acted upon this rhetoric. And so I'm just very, very concerned that this violent extremist rhetoric is now translating into physical violence. And little did I know or think that our temple would be targeted. Yeah, a pattern is a heavy thing to say here. The temples have what they need to stay safe, you think? No, one of the reasons is that in previous years, they used to receive what's called a not-for-profit security grant from the government, NSG. So temples, synagogues, mosques, churches throughout the country would be given the resources to help protect their establishments from this type of attack. And unfortunately, the Trump administration has withheld these particular NSG grants from numerous institutions. And as a consequence, a lot of places just don't have the resources to bolster their security. Now, obviously, some places, including my temple, will take steps to do this on their own at this point. But I hesitate to think about those institutions that may not have what it takes to protect themselves and where the next attack might be. I mean, you're in Congress, so what can be done? What does standing against this kind of hatred look like in real terms? First of all, I want everybody to call out this hate for what it is. This particular individual, by the way, wrote a manifesto. And in the manifesto, he basically said, you know, he hates African-Americans, Jews, Indians, minorities. And, you know, at this point, we should realize that hate does not discriminate. And we have to stand together, whether you're a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, whoever you are, against this type of bigotry or prejudice, whoever it's directed against. Secondly, we have to condemn the rhetoric that we see spiking online. And then third, we have to take steps to protect ourselves physically from what's happening. And that involves making sure that those not-for-profit security grants go out the door, that they no longer get politicized, that they be issued the way that they were intended by Congress. But we have to act together. Yeah, and speaking of action, a co-worker was actually the one who made the phone call and helped police move as fast as they could. What would you want to say to that person who made that call? Thank you for doing that. And to any of your viewers who might be aware of anybody who might express that kind of violent intent, please cooperate with your law enforcement. Please inform others so that we can stop these attacks before they happen. We have to fight together against this scourge of hate and violence. And we have to make sure that the way that we talk about our differences, we do so in a civil fashion. And we don't use any of the rhetoric that we see online right now, which is stoking more hate and, unfortunately, violence as well. Yeah, faith has to overcome the fear when there's this much hate out here. And you said this happened during a joyful time of the year. How does it change what this week feels like? And people still want to gather. What do you tell a family that's nervous about going back? I can understand you'd be nervous. My own family is shaken up this morning. But we have to live our lives. We have to, at the same time, protect ourselves, but also we have to do what we normally would do, which is celebrate our holidays and be ourselves. At the end of the day, the people who commit these acts of violence want us to change the way that we live and to change who we are, and we cannot do that. We have to continue to practice our faith traditions, be ourselves, and that's the way that we get through this. Yeah, and other faith groups I know have spoken out. What have you heard from them since Wednesday? I think everybody is as horrified as I and all of us are, and I'm very thankful. And tomorrow we plan to have an event to bring together people of different faith traditions and leaders to say with one voice that hate has no home here in Illinois, and it should not have a home here in the United States. We have to fight together with all we got against this scourge. Where's that event happening? Just in case anyone watching right now would like to come and show support. It's gonna be downtown and we are now as we speak formulating the final details, but we'll share that with you when we have them. Yeah, absolutely. We heard from Palatine PD earlier this morning detailing what they found in this suspect's home. And they said the rifle had no serial number. So that makes, of course, one think of ghost guns. Does that worry you? Of course, yes. I think the proliferation of these firearms, these ghost guns, anything that would enable people who have this violent intent to actually act upon them is a big concern. And as we know, the rhetoric is off the charts, combined with the proliferation of guns, combined with, unfortunately, the fanning of this rhetoric, even at the uppermost levels of our government, really creates a, you know, kind of a terrible, perfect storm in which, you know, violence can happen and at a scale unimaginable. And I imagine police are keeping you updated on the investigation and what's next. The suspect's being held until trial. The FBI is involved here as well. What have they told you? What happens next? What are you watching for next? Well, we're still in conversation with them. I'm going to be asking them to investigate this as a hate crime. And we're going to try to take action with our colleagues on this as well. And I'll try to assist law enforcement however I can in this very serious matter. Last one here. What do you hope people at the temple feel this week? Any message you have for them? Well, my message to them is we need to stand in solidarity with each other. We need to make sure that we take steps to protect ourselves and, of course, the temple. But we also have to act with others to prevent this from happening again. And so let us enjoy the holiday, which is a very important one, and at the same time do what it takes to prevent this from happening again to us or to anybody else for that matter. The temple was like a second home. I know you've described it that way before. Congressman Krishnamoorthy, thanks so much for joining us this morning and give my best to your family. Thank you so much. All right, thank you.