Shooter's Drive to Silence FRC Leads to Terrorism Indictment

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Oct 24, 2012, 07:44 ET

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The United States Attorney's Office announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a "superseding indictment against Floyd Lee Corkins, II, charging him with several new offenses, including a District of Columbia charge of committing an act of terrorism." The charges stem from the August 15, 2012 shooting at the Family Research Council's headquarters.

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Corkins, who had been a volunteer at a local homosexual activist organization, invaded the lobby armed with a 9mm pistol, approximately 50 rounds of ammunition, and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches purchased the day before. Leo Johnson, FRC's building manager, confronted the gunman, at which time Corkins began firing. Despite being shot, Johnson was able to subdue the shooter, and according to investigators, his actions saved many lives.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins offered the following reaction to the terrorism indictment:

"The terrorism indictment announced today - the first under the District's ten-year-old anti-terrorism statute -- makes clear that acts of violence designed to intimidate and silence those who support natural marriage and traditional morality violate the law and undermine the security and stability of our form of government.

"We again call on organizations like the Southern Poverty Law Center to stop its reckless practice of labeling organizations that oppose their promotion of homosexuality. The SPLC's 'hate' labeling of Christian organizations is fostering a dangerous and deadly environment of hostility and it needs to stop.

"The Family Research Council and our supporters understand the essential nature of our First Freedoms of religion and speech in the survival of our constitutional republic and remain unequivocally committed to our mission of advancing faith, family and freedom," concluded Perkins.

SOURCE Family Research Council