According to official court records, Corkins “told the FBI that if the police had not responded and caught him at the FRC, he intended to go to the second organization on his target list and perpetrate a similar shooting there.”
Official court records show that Corkins was inspired by the SPLC to commit terrorism.
Corkins pled guilty to act of domestic terrorism in exchange for a 25 year prison sentence. During his interviews with the FBI, Corkins explained his plans and how he chose his targets:
Once inside the FRC on the day of the shooting, he pulled the gun on the, quote, guard, end quote, grappled with him, and in the course of doing so he intentionally discharged the gun multiple times. The shooting was not an accident. He pointed the gun at the guard, and that he intended to shoot and kill the guard, and then go upstairs and shoot and kill, quote, as many people as he could, end quote.
He was a political activist and considered the FRC a lobbying group. He committed the shooting for political reasons. He identified the FRC as an anti-gay organization on the Southern Poverty Law Center Website.