An unidentified gunman shot a security guard at the headquarters of the anti-gay Family Research Council in downtown Washington, D.C. this morning, the Washington Blade reports.
The shooter, reported to be a man in his 20s, walked into the lobby of the FRC at about 10:45am and opened fire. Bystanders and the wounded guard were able to wrestle the man to the ground and hold him until police arrived. The suspect has been turned over to the FBI.
Witnesses told reporters that the gunman made statements about the FRC’s conservative views before firing. The FRC is notoriously anti-gay and vigorously opposes LGBT rights and reproductive freedom, while championing prayer in public schools and sexual abstinence until marriage. Whether FRC’s stand played a role in the shooter’s motivation isn’t yet known.
“We don’t know enough yet about him or his circumstances to be able to determine his connection to this group or to the business or to what, you know, mentally what he’s doing or thinking. So we’re going to try to sort it all out, and pull the evidence together, do as many interviews as we can, and get it all together,” FBI Assistant Director James McJunkin told the Washington Post.
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