CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The mayor of Charlottesville said at least one person was killed after a car plowed into a crowd downtown Saturday afternoon following the clashes broke before the "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalists and other right-wing groups.
Charlottesville Police Chief Alfred S. Thomas Jr. said a 32-year-old woman who was crossing the street was killed.
UVa. Medical Center officials released an update just before 7 p.m. on the conditions of the people injured in the crash near the Downtown Mall.
Of the other 19 people injured, five people were in critical condition, four were listed as serious, six were in fair condition and four were reported in good condition.
Mayor Mike Signer said he was "heartbroken that a life has been lost" and urged folks to go home.
Charlottesville Communications Director Miriam I. Dickler said the crash, which involved three cars, happened at Water and 4th streets.
Laura Shae, who has lived in Charlottesville for 26 years, said she witnessed the crash.
“We were driving down,” Shae told CBS 6 reporter Brendan King. “And there was a crowd of people just running with terror on their face.”
Shae said the car plowed into the crowd before it was stopped by two other vehicles. She said the suspect's car then backed over people.
Shae said she saw eight people carried away on stretchers with what she described as bloodied arms and legs.
WCAV reported that the car involved in the crash was later located on Monticello Avenue.
Officials said the driver of the vehicle, whose name has not yet been released, was taken into custody by Charlottesville Police.
Virginia State Police and Charlottesville Police are investigating the incident.
3 arrested, 8 injured in clashes before 'Unite the Right' rally in Charlottesville
Officials said three people were arrested and eight others were injured after clashes broke out ahead of Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalists and other right-wing groups.
The arrest happened began shortly after police made a declaration of unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park, just before 11:30 a.m.
Charlottesville Communications Director Miriam I. Dickler said there were eight reported injuries related to the event.
Dickler said the Virginia National Guard was called in to assist law enforcement in restoring order.
Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe has declared a state of emergency “to aid state response to violence” ahead of Saturday’s “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, according to a post on his Twitter account.
"Law enforcement will continue to monitor the situation and respond as appropriate," Dickler said.
Additionally, the University of Virginia cancelled all events that were scheduled for Saturday afternoon.
Fistfights and screaming matches erupted shortly before rally's scheduled noon start. The skirmishes unfolded following a scuffle Friday night between torch-bearing demonstrators and counter-protesters at the nearby University of Virginia.
Saturday's rally was the latest event drawing white nationalists and right-wing activists from across the country to this Democratic-voting college town -- a development precipitated by the city's decision to remove symbols of its Confederate past.
Here are the latest developments:
• Police began to break up crowds shortly before noon after city officials declared the gathering an "unlawful assembly." Police officers spoke on bullhorns, directing people to leave.
• The declaration was made after fistfights and screaming matches erupted in several locations late Saturday morning.
• Some protesters fired pepper spray at other demonstrators, state police said.
• Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency "to aid state response to violence."
• An unspecified number of protesters have been arrested in Charlottesville, state police said.
WTVR CBS 6 News has a crew in Charlottesville. Click here to watch reporter Brendan King's live reports from Charlottesville. Stay with WTVR.com and watch CBS 6 News at 11 p.m. for complete coverage of this developing story.
Police in riot gear stood shoulder to shoulder behind shields early Saturday afternoon, at times advancing toward crowds, CNN video shows. Members of the Virginia National Guard also were there.
It wasn't immediately clear what led to the fights, though tensions and rhetoric were running hot. At one point, a few dozen white men wearing helmets and holding makeshift shields chanted, "Blood and soil!" Later, another group chanted slogans like, "Nazi scum off our streets!"
People punched and kicked each other during various scuffles, which often were broken up from within crowds, without police intervention, CNN video shows.
Earlier, a group of clergy and other counter-demonstrators, including activist and Harvard professor Cornel West, held hands, prayed and sang, "This Little Light of Mine."
Police presence was heavy, with more than 1,000 officers expected to be deployed, city officials said. Police anticipated the rally would attract as many as 2,000 to 6,000 people, and the Southern Poverty Law Center said it could be the "largest hate-gathering of its kind in decades in the United States."
White nationalists wield torches
Charlottesville, once home to Thomas Jefferson, is known as a progressive city of about 47,000 people. Eighty percent of its voters choose Hillary Clinton during last year's election.
But far-right activists and Ku Klux Klan members have come here in recent months, outraged by the city's intention to remove traces of its links to the Confederacy -- including plans to remove a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The move follows efforts by communities across the South to remove Confederate iconography from public property since the 2015 rampage killings of nine black churchgoers in Charleston by a self-described white supremacist.
Ahead of Saturday's planned rally, tensions roiled Friday night as white nationalists -- some holding what appeared to be backyard tiki-style torches -- marched onto the University of Virginia's campus.
Chanting, "Blood and soil" and "You will not replace us," the group rallied around a statue of Thomas Jefferson before they clashed with counter-protesters, CNN affiliate WWBT reported. The group left the university's grounds when police arrived and declared the gathering an unlawful assembly.
City and UVA officials condemned Friday's march.
"In my 47 years of association with @UVA, this was the most nauseating thing I've ever seen. We need an exorcism on the Lawn," Larry Sabato, director of the university's Center for Politics tweeted.
Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer released a statement referring to Friday's rally as a "cowardly parade of hatred, bigotry, racism, and intolerance march down the lawns of the architect of our Bill of Rights."
"Everyone has a right under the First Amendment to express their opinion peaceably, so here's mine: not only as the Mayor of Charlottesville, but as a UVA faculty member and alumnus, I am beyond disgusted by this unsanctioned and despicable display of visual intimidation on a college campus," he added.
Friday's march took place shortly after a federal judge granted a temporary injunction allowing right-wing activists to hold Saturday's rally.
City officials had tried to "modify" the rally's permit to move the demonstration from the park with the Lee statue more than a mile away to McIntire Park, citing safety concerns.
'We're going to start standing up for our history'
In February, the city council voted to remove the Lee statue, but that is on hold pending litigation. The council also voted to rename two city parks that had been named for Confederate generals; one of those, Emancipation Park, was due to be the site of Saturday's rally.
Saturday's event had residents on edge, and more than 40 local business owners near the park have asked the city to protect them.
"I have a lot of fears. I think most of us are just anxious, we don't want there to be violence," business owner Michael Rodi said of the rally.
"We don't want to see a bloodbath, we don't want to see looting, we don't want to see mass arrests, we don't want to see the police having to turn on citizens," he added.
Jason Kessler, who organized Saturday's "Unite the Right" rally, said he doesn't consider himself to be a white nationalist. But, he said, "we're going to start standing up for our history."
"The statue itself is symbolic of a lot of larger issues. The primary three issues are preserving history against this censorship and revisionism -- this political correctness," he told CNN Friday.
"The second issue is being allowed to advocate for your interests as a white person, just like other groups are allowed to advocate for their interests politically. And finally this is about free speech. We are simply trying to express ourselves and do a demonstration, and the local government has tried to shut us down."
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
