UPDATED: 5:11PM
Floyd Lee Corkins, the man who allegedly shot a man at the Family Research Council in D.C. last week, was indicted by a grand jury on both federal and local charges on Wednesday.
Corkins, 28, has been charged with the federal offense of interstate transportation of a firearm and ammunition and a local charge of assault with intent to kill while armed and possession of a firearm during a violent crime. The federal charge carries a maximum of 10 years, while the local charges both carry a mandatory mimimum of five years.
The suspect was not, however, charged under a D.C. hate crimes law, which offers additional penalties for crimes motivated by political bias. Corkins allegedly said words along the lines of “I don’t like your politics” before the shooting.
But David Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s office for the District of Columbia, left open the possibility that Corkins could be charged with a hate crime down the line.
“The investigation of this case is continuing and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has no comment about the possibility of other charges,” Miller told TPM in an email.
David Bos, Corkins’ public defender, told the Associated Press on Wednesday that he believed a hate crimes charge was unlikely.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, which opposes hate crimes on principle, has blamed the Southern Poverty Law Center’s designation of the FRC as a “hate group” for giving Corkins a “license to shoot.”
Corkins volunteered at a gay community center in the U Street area of D.C. and was carrying 15 sandwiches from Chick-fil-A when he entered FRC headquarters. His parents allegedly told FBI agents that Corkins “has strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner.”
