Charlottesville deadly car crash suspect identified
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The suspect being held in a Virginia jail in connection with a deadly crash near a scheduled rally of white nationalists has been identified as James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Maumee, Ohio, according to Superintendent Martin Kumer with the Albermarle-Charlottesville County Regional Jail.
Fields is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, malicious wounding, and failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe said at a news conference that three people had died, but he did not say where the deaths occurred. Other authorities said two people died when a helicopter crashed near the site of the Saturday confrontations inbetween white nationalists and counterprotesters.
McAuliffe had a pointed message for the right-wing groups that flocked to Charlottesville Saturday: “Go home . You are not dreamed in this excellent commonwealth. Shame on you.”
In addition to the one death and nineteen injuries in the car-ramming incident, the city said there were at least fifteen other injuries associated with the scheduled rally.
“I am heartbroken that a life has been lost here. I urge all people of good will — go home,” Mayor Mike Signer wrote on Twitter.
Virginia’s governor had earlier proclaimed an emergency, and police worked to disperse hundreds of protesters in the college town after clashes broke out ahead of the rally’s scheduled noon ET commence.
Fistfights and screaming matches erupted Saturday, scarcely twelve hours after a scuffle Friday night at the nearby University of Virginia inbetween torch-bearing demonstrators and counterprotesters.
Saturday’s rally was the latest event drawing white nationalists and right-wing activists from across the country to this Democratic-voting town — a development precipitated by the city’s decision to liquidate symbols of its Confederate past.
Mark Quick, longtime Charlottesville resident, says “this is not the Charlottesville he knows” @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/GGGxr6dru1
Virginia State Police truck rolling through downtown. Officers at every corner @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/Xa9CJECsIn
Just got to downtown Charlottesville. Police stationed at different points. A duo of roads are also blocked off. @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/I7ZnpLhY4r
Downtown Charlottesville businesses closed, law enforcement all through this area blocking off Emancipation Park @myfox8 pic.twitter.com/tDvo51637z
Driver cuffed in fatal Virginia crash during white nationalist rally identified as 20-year-old James Fields of Ohio https://t.co/eC91SS3zV9 pic.twitter.com/m94k6xJX64
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