Southern Poverty Law Center Linked to FRC Shooting in Chilling New Interrogation Video

Act of Domestic Terrorism Puts Spotlight on Self-Appointed 'Hate' Watchdog

News provided by

Apr 25, 2013, 11:00 ET

WASHINGTON, April 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a chilling new Federal Bureau of Investigation interrogation video just released, Floyd Lee Corkins, who stormed the Family Research Council's (FRC) headquarters on August 15, 2012 and started firing, says that he picked his target from the Southern Poverty Law Center's (SPLC) website. Corkins pled guilty to three charges, including committing an act of domestic terrorism while armed – the first such charge in Washington, D.C.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20080930/FRCLOGO )

Corkins entered the lobby armed with a loaded semi-automatic pistol, 100 rounds of ammunition, and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches. He started firing at FRC's building manager Leo Johnson who heroically tackled the shooter after a gunshot shattered his arm.

The partial transcript and video follow:

FBI: Now how did you . . . This building, this organization. Did you . . .

FBI: Did you, how did you find it earlier? Did you like look it up online?

Corkins: It was a uh, Southern Poverty Law, lists, uh anti-gay groups

Corkins: I found them online. I did a little bit of research, went to the website

Corkins: Stuff like that

LINK TO VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgjI3wavx-I&feature=player_embedded

Corkins has said that, "I wanted to kill the people in the building and then smear a Chick-fil-A sandwich in their face … to kill as many people as I could." His act of terrorism has put sunlight on SPLC, which has targeted a wide swath of Americans for standing up for traditional values, most often Christian and conservative.

"The SPLC's reckless labeling has led to devastating consequences," said FRC President Tony Perkins. "Because of its 'hate group' labeling, a deadly terrorist had a guidemap to FRC and other organizations. Our team is still dealing with the fallout of the attack, that was intended to have a chilling effect on organizations that are simply fighting for their values."

"The Southern Poverty Law Center, which has now been linked to domestic terrorism in federal court, should put an immediate stop to its practice of labeling organizations that oppose their promotion of homosexuality," continued Perkins.

"In a civil society, shutting down debate is not how reasonable people and organizations operate. Intimidating and bullying others shreds the 'ordered liberty' of which our Founders wrote and for which they advocated, and places all of us in jeopardy of losing our sacred rights as militant extremists claim the public square exclusively for themselves," concluded Perkins.

SOURCE Family Research Council