CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The suspect arrested in a deadly crash near a scheduled rally of white nationalists has been identified as James Alex Fields Jr., of Maumee, Ohio, according to Superintendent Martin Kumer with the Albermarle-Charlottesville County Regional Jail.
The 20-year-old was charged with one count of second degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of hit and run attended failure to stop with injury.
James Alex Fields Jr.
Videos on social media capture horror
Video of the incident shows a gray Dodge Challenger driving quickly down a narrow side street lined with walking protesters. The sports car rams into the back of a silver convertible, which hits the van in front of it. Soon the Dodge driver slams the car in reverse, going back up the street at a high rate of speed, dragging its front bumper. Several people chase the car. As the sports car retreats, a red and white athletic shoe falls off the bumper.
Another video shows at least one person being thrown over the rear of the car onto the roof of the silver convertible then sliding down onto the hood.
Witness Chris Mahony said he and a friend, who shot one of the videos, were walking down the street when he saw the gray car on the other side of the street.
"It just sat there, looking down the road," he said. "I thought that's a bit strange. There didn't seem to be any other cars stopping him from going. And then a couple moments we heard a car going incredibly fast down the road and then it plowed into the crowd."
Suspect's mother: 'I told him to be careful'
Fields' mother, Samantha Bloom, told the Toledo Blade, a CNN affiliate, that he told her last week he was going to an "alt-right" rally.
"I told him to be careful... if they are going to rally, to make sure he is doing it peacefully," she told the newspaper.
She said he texted her Friday that he had dropped off his cat at her house so he could attend the rally, the newspaper reported.
“I thought it had something to do with [President] Trump,” she said.
“I try to stay out of his political views,” she said. “I don’t get too involved.”
CNN's attempt to reach Bloom were unsuccessful.
The victims
One woman died and 19 were injured Saturday when a car rammed a crowd of counterprotesters gathered to oppose a "Unite the Right" rally of white nationalist and other right-wing groups.
Angela Taylor, a spokeswoman for the University of Virginia Medical Center, said there were five patients from the crash in critical condition, four in serious condition, six in fair condition and four in good condition.
Charlottesville Police Chief Al Thomas said the suspect was taken into custody not far from the crash site.
Thomas told reporters a 32-year-old woman was killed while she was crossing the street. Her name was not released.
"What the world saw today is not the place Charlottesville is," Thomas said of the violence that preceded the scheduled rally. "We love our city. Let us heal. This is not our story. Outsiders do not tell our story. We will tell our own story."
Civil rights investigation
The FBI and the U.S. Attorney's Office have opened a civil rights investigation into the deadly accident.
“The Richmond FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the US Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the deadly vehicular incident that occurred earlier Saturday morning. The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and as this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time.”
