A Dodge Challenger has plowed into a group of protestors in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing a 32-year-old woman and injuring at least 19 others.
Horrific footage from the scene shows the moment 20-year-old James Alex Fields drove the muscle car into the group who were protesting a rally staged by white nationalists. He can be seen accelerating through the crowd of people, eventually running into the back of a Ford Mustang, pushing it into a minivan and through the crowd of people.
Fields then aggressively reverses up the road, causing dozens of bystanders to run, fearing for their lives.
The driver fled the scene but was detained shortly after and identified as a supporter of the National Vanguard, an American white nationalist organization based in the city. He has now been charged with second-degree murder.
Speaking to the media, the mother of Fields, Samantha Bloom, said he had told her he was attending a rally but she thought it was in support of President Trump, rather than white nationalists.
“I just knew he was going to a rally. I mean, I try to stay out of his political views. You know, we don’t, I don’t really get too involved, I moved him out to his own apartment, so I’m watching his cat,” she told the Associated Press.
This is the car that plowed through a crowd at the #UniteTheRight rally. Stopped along Monticello Ave. pic.twitter.com/7Uf4lHfAf9
— Dean Seal (@JDeanSeal) August 12, 2017