Government Seeks 45 Years for Activist Who Shot Up Pro-Life Office

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 22, 2013   |   4:09PM   |   Washington, DC

The government is seeking a 45-year prison term for a liberal activist who shot up a pro-life organization’s national office in Washington, D.C.

Floyd Lee Corkins, II, pleaded guilty to three charges associated with his shooting a security guard at the national headquarters of a pro-life group. The guilty plea included 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.

Now, according to AP, prosecutors have filed court documents seeking more than four decades of prison time for Corkins.

Prosecutors filed a court document Friday that recommends the 45-year sentence for Floyd Corkins II. A security guard subdued Corkins in the lobby of the Family Research Council in August after he pointed a pistol at the man. Corkins fired three shots, and the guard was the only one injured. Corkins, who was carrying nearly 100 rounds of ammunition and 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches, later told authorities that he had planned to kill as many people as possible and then to smear the sandwiches on their faces as a political statement.

The government said in making its recommendation that if not for the security guard’s actions, Corkins “would have almost certainly succeeded in committing a massacre of epic portions.”

“Although the defendant largely failed to bring about the violence he sought, he was still able to accomplish one of his objectives — that is, to use acts of violence to terrorize and intimidate those within the District of Columbia and the United States who did not share his political beliefs and views,” government attorneys wrote.

Corkins, 28, told authorities he initially wanted to make a bomb but did not have the patience. He bought a gun in Virginia the week before the shooting and received private firearms training the night before his attack.

When Corkins was arrested, he was carrying a list of four socially conservative organizations written on a piece of paper printed with the Bible verse, “With God all things are possible.” He told authorities that if he had not been caught at the Family Research Council he planned to go to the next organization on his list and shoot there as well. Prosecutors did not release the list of organizations. They said approximately 50 people were working inside the Family Research Council when Corkins arrived.

Sentencing is set for April 29.

In his interview with the FBI right after the shooting, the shooter admitted his guilt, which was captured on video. Corkins said he intended to “kill as many as possible and smear the Chick-Fil-A sandwiches in victims’ faces, and kill the guard.” The prosecutor said they reviewed the family computer and found that he identified his targets on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s web site.

“The day after Floyd Corkins came into the FRC headquarter and opened fire wounding one of our team members, I stated that while Corkins was responsible for the shooting, he had been given a license to perpetrate this act of violence by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center which has systematically and recklessly labeled every organization with which they disagree as a ‘hate group,’” Tony Perkins said.

“Both assertions were validated in court as Corkins plead guilty to multiple criminal charges, including terrorism,” he said.

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Perkins added, “The Southern Poverty Law Center can no longer say that it is not a source for those bent on committing acts of violence. Only by ending its hate labeling practices will the SPLC send a message that it no longer wishes to be a source for those who would commit acts of violence that are only designed to intimidate and silence Christians and others who support natural marriage and traditional morality.”

“Once again, I call on the SPLC to put an immediate stop to its practice of labeling organizations” as hate groups that take certain conservative positions, Perkins said.

“Whether the SPLC continues to demonize those who hold to biblical morality or not, the Family Research Council will remain unequivocally committed to our mission of advancing faith, family and freedom,” concluded Perkins.