WASHINGTON — Floyd Lee Corkins II, 28, of Herndon, Va., has been charged with assault with intent to kill while armed, and interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition as a result of Wednesday’s shooting incident at the Family Research Council headquarters in Washington.
Corkins, a volunteer at the DC Center for the LGBT Community for the past six months, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Alan Kay in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia on Thursday afternoon.
In the incident, Corkins allegedly tried to gain access to the FRC headquarters by posing as an intern, and after complaining of the conservative group’s policies, brandished a 9 mm handgun when confronted by Leo Johnson, the FRC’s building operations manager, who also serves as security for the organization.
Johnson and Corkins reportedly engaged in an altercation, before Corkins fired, striking Johnson in the arm.
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Wearing a white prison jumpsuit and standing between two U.S. Deputy Marshals, Corkins stood quietly as Kay read the charges against him and ordered him held without bond ahead of another hearing scheduled for August 24.
Replying in a soft voice to Kay’s question if he had adequate funds to pay for an attorney, Corkins told the judge that he did not.
“I have about $300,” Corkins said.
Kay assigned Corkins a public defender and ordered that he undergo a mental evaluation.
Law enforcement sources told LGBTQ Nation Thursday that the investigation is ongoing, and that further charges may be forthcoming.
Johnson was in stable condition after undergoing surgery Wednesday night.
The Family Research Council, which bills itself as “the leading voice for the family in our nation’s halls of power,” has been labeled an anti-gay “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center, which has designated the organization a “hate group” for making “false claims about the LGBT community based on discredited research and junk science.”
