Police Have Arrested Suspected Driver of Charlottesville Tragedy

BYMilca P.98 Views
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At least one is dead; dozens injured after car plows through couterprotestors at White Nationalist rally.

Early Saturday, an already dangerous and tense White Nationalist Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia turned deadly after a speeding car plowed into a crowd of counterprotestors, killing at least one person, and injuring dozens more.

Now, the man suspected of driving the vehicle-turned-weapon has been identified and arrested by law enforcement.

Graphic video released of the incident reveals a 2010 gray Dodge Challenger going full speed into a pedestrian mall, sending bodies flying in the air then putting the car in reverse and going back in the direction it came from, hitting more bystanders.

The group primarily consisted of counterprotestors who arrived to oppose the protestors who rallied in Charlottesville's Emancipation park against the removal of a Confederate statue ahead of a planned "Unite the Right" rally.

The Washington Post now reports that James Alex Fields Jr. has been identified as the owner of the vehicle and has been arrested and is being held in the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail for "suspicion of second-degree murder, malicious wounding, failure to stop for an accident involving a death, and hit and run."

Fields, according to the outlet, has been identified as a registered Republican from Ohio, and is now allegedly responsible for the day's most unspeakable act in the midst of violent demonstrations from far-right groups that included the likes of White Nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and the Ku Klux Klan.

The governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe previously declared a state of emergency and condemned the atrocious outcomes of the day.

"You pretend that you are patriots, but you are anything but a patriot," said McAuliffe at a press conference. "You came here today to hurt people, and you did hurt people. My message is clear: We are stronger than you. You have made our commonwealth stronger. You will not succeed. There is no place for you here. There is no place for you in America."

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