Shooting suspect expected to appear in court this afternoon

Shooting suspect expected to appear in court this afternoon

Floyd Lee Corkins II, the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting at the Family Research Council, is expected to appear in court Thursday afternoon after authorities filed a criminal complaint earlier this morning.

The charges against Corkins include assault with intent to kill, as well as a federal firearms charge that he transported guns and ammunition across state lines. The federal charge carries up to 10 years in prison and the DC charge carries up to 30 years. Corkins’s car was located at the East Falls Church metro station in Virginia, about fifteen miles from Corkins’s residence in Herndon, VA.

Corkins, who had posed as an intern before shooting security guard Leo Johnson, has been held in FBI custody as they work the case in conjunction with the DC Metropolitan Police. According to the FBI affidavit, Corkins said to the security guard, “I don’t like your politics” and had 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, additional ammunition, and a Sig Sauer 9mm pistol with him at the time of the shooting.

So far the authorities have not elaborated on whether Corkins’s actions would classify as a hate crime.

Corkins has been volunteering for the past six months with the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Corkins, who received a masters degree from George Mason University in 2006 from the College of Education and Human Development, appears to have signed his name to a petition sponsored by the GMU Students for Peace regarding GMU student Tariq Khan’s arrest regarding his protest of military recruitment on campus (H/T LI reader Pablo) the arrest of Guantanamo Bay detainee Tariq Khan.

Corkins’s parents, with whom he lives, told the FBI that he has “strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner.”

The Family Research Council, a conservative, Christian, nonprofit, had been classified as a “Hate Group” by the Southern Policy Law Center.

Update: The Family Research Council will hold a press conference at 3pm eastern today.

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