Leo Johnson
Posted on 08/17/2012 11:21:44 AM PDT by jazusamo
(CNSNews.com) –The security guard who stopped a gunman at the Family Research Council (FRC) on Wednesday, despite sustaining a shot to the arm, said God put him there at that time to stop the attack. The gunman was carrying a 9mm handgun with two extra loaded magazines and another 50 rounds of ammunition in his backpack.
Leo Johnson, the building operation manager at the FRC, a conservative policy group that promotes "faith, family and freedom," has been hailed as a hero by authorities for not letting an armed gunman get too far past the front door. In an interview with WJLA-TV, Johnson described how the shooter, Floyd Lee Corkins II, posed as an intern and opened fire without warning just before 11 a.m. on Wednesday morning.
"I didn't feel any pain. I felt my arm snap back so I knew I was hit but I didn't feel any pain," said Johnson.
Although wounded, Johnson disarmed and subdued Corkins, who said his actions were not about the security guard but about the policies of the Family Research Council. As a security guard at the FRC Johnson does not wear a uniform or carry a gun.
"Although I didn't want to get shot, nobody wants to get shot, I feel that God put me in a position to be there at that time,” Johnson said.
FRC President Tony Perkins said he visited his colleague in the hospital where he was recovering, at a press conference on Thursday.
“As he was coming to out of the surgery, I was there and I told him, I said, ‘Leo, I want you to know, you’re a hero and that’s what we believe you are and that’s what Americans all across the country believe you are, a hero, for what you did today,’” Perkins said.
“Well, this hero business is hard work,” Johnson said.
FBI spokeswoman Jacqueline Maguire and D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier each extolled Johnson as a hero, who “did above and beyond what he was supposed to do.”
According to an FBI affidavit, Corkins was carrying over 50 rounds of ammunition and had 15 Chick-fil-A sandwiches in a backpack when he entered the FRC headquarters located at 801 G Street in Northwest Washington on Wednesday morning. According to a witness interviewed by the FBI, Corkins said of the FRC, “I don't like your politics.”
The Family Research Council, in its mission statement, states that it “champions marriage and family as the foundation of civilization, the seedbed of virtue, and the wellspring of society.”
The group publicly defended the fast food chain Chick-fil-A after it was thrust into the national spotlight when its CEO Dan Cathy said he supported traditional marriage, in late July.
On Aug. 1, after pro-same-sex marriage groups criticized the chain by accusing it of "hate," thousands of supporters flocked to restaurants across the country for “Chick-fi-A Appreciation Day.”
According to the FBI affidavit, Corkins’ parents said their son “has strong opinions with respect to those he believes do not treat homosexuals in a fair manner.”
Corkins had been volunteering for the last six months at The DC Center for the LGBT Community, which condemned the violence in a statement, which was signed by 40 other local and national LGBT groups.
During the press conference on Thursday, Perkins said Corkins was given a “license” to commit violence by groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center, which priorto the shooting had put the FRC on its “Hate Map,” claiming the group is “anti-gay.”
Designating organizations as hate groups for disagreeing with public policy positions “marginalizes individuals, letting people feel free to go and do bodily harm to innocent people who are simply working and representing folks all across this country,” Perkins said.
Perkins said he expects Johnson to be back at the FRC “very soon assuming his duties here running the building and making sure this environment is secure, which he did yesterday, to which our entire team here is grateful.”
It find it incredible the guy is there I assume 8 hours a day 5 days a week doing a thankless boring job but that one moment when his training and skill is needed he came through. Guy is a hero.
Gayism is a kind of mental illness.
Someone buy that man a C-F-A Banana Pudding Milk Shake! :)
It was medically defined as such until the Commie takeover of the late Fifties
I heard this morning from a Washington Times columnist on WRKO that the 15 Chick-Fil-A’s were to be left with each victim. So he was going to kill at least 15 people.
I totally agree with Mr. Johnson.
Hopefully he rots in the slammer.
Obama can have a son, if he wants to, that looks like Trayvon. But I’ll take a son like Mr. Johnson.
Indeed!
I literally despise what America's MSM has become, as an example not making this the lead story in the nation.
May all the alphabet networks be swept away by bankruptcy.
I refuse their agenda driven product and will not patronize any carrier of such garbage. So long cable TV, network TV, satellite TV. I get the news I get from word of mouth, radio, or the world wide web.
I think Mr. Johnson should beat the SPLC at their own game if only to send a message and expose their hypocrisy. He should sue THEM as a group instead of the individual shooter for fomenting violence with their hate-filled rhetoric directed at the FRC.
I wonder if Judicial Watch or the Thomas More Law Center or some conservative group would be willing to take that pro bono for him.
"I feel that God put me in a position to be there at that time.."I think so too, and thank you! It was the Feast of the Assumption, August 15th.
Errant, might I suggest making FreeRepublic your primary source for information and what others are calling “the news”. It works very well for me and it is often breaking news stories before the lamestream media is even aware of huge reportable events occuring in our world.
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I wonder how much play this will receive? Something tells me this forum will be the last time I read or hear about it.
No, liberal mommy and daddy, little johnny has displayed strong and deliberate ACTIONS - not opinions - against those he does like. Don't accuse FNC of NOT treating ANYONE in an unfair manner. IS 'intention to kill' fair? you liberal idiots! Clearly the kid was never taught right from wrong - he was left to make up his own mind - bad is good and good is bad.
The quantity of posts that recognize the good Mr. Leo Johnson did, seem to be too few in number.
I feel for him about his point of it being no fun to be a hero. I wonder how many of the general public will recall the good he did, in just two months? How long will the aches from the wounds last?
Thank you and bless you, Mr. Johnson. May you heal quickly!
Leo Johnson is a hero I believe unfortunately that we are going to see more and more hate coming from leftist homosexuals they are the opposite of everything America stands for. I grew up fearing but loving God.These leftist terrorists are begging for God’s wrath upon the leftist elements in this Country. When my own party choose Williard Romney for the nominee for President I knew conservatism and truth were in trouble. God will not be mocked and that’s what Obama the Marxist and Robama the Mormon are doing this Country is in trouble no matter which of these two evil men are elected I am so sick of the liberal faction trying to infiltrate the Party of Reagan. I wonder how he would feel about what is happening to the Republican Party and his beloved Country moving ever closer to secularism and socialism. know it makes me angry and sick to my stomach We all need to pray for a miracle before the Convention if we don’t get a miracle we will see more and more hate and violence against God loving family oriented Conservatives
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