Shortly before 11 a.m. this morning, 28-year-old Floyd Corkins opened fire on a security guard at the conservative Family Research Center, located in downtown Washington, D.C. Local news stations, including NBC's Washington station, devoted resources to cover the developing story, as did CNN and Fox News, which regularly updated viewers with progress in the investigation.
But MSNBC devoted a scant 17 seconds to the story, in a news brief at 2:51 p.m. Eastern by News Nation substitute anchor Jose Diaz-Balart, and ignored noting that it may well be classified as an incident of domestic terrorism [MP3 audio here; video contrasting coverage follows page break]:
The FBI is now investigating the motive behind a shooting at a Christian lobby group in Washington, D.C., this morning. It tops our look at stories around the NewsNation. A man shot a security guard in the arm at the headquarters of the Family Research Council, the shooter in custody, police say it's too soon to know if the group was targeted because of its conservative beliefs.
But more than an hour earlier, Fox News reported that officials were considering the incident a possible act of domestic terrorism and that the suspect brought up the group's politician stances.
Fox News Channel's Megyn Kelly in a 1:33 p.m. Eastern breaking news alert:
Fox News Alert: New information on a case of possible domestic terrorism. That is the term being used by officials.
In Washington today, sources tell Fox News that a 28-year-old Virginia man walked into the Family Research Council pretending to be an intern. That of course is a conservative advocacy group. He started commenting, we're told, on some policies, and then opened fire.
Police are now calling the security guard there, Leo Johnson, a hero for stopping the gunman before he got past the front door. Mr. Johnson unfortunately was shot himself, in the arm, but he's expected to survive.
The FBI has the suspect in custody, and the Joint Terrorism Task Force is participating in this investigation. The ATF has recovered at least one weapon.
