One person died and dozens were injured after violence erupted at a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville Virginia Saturday.
The “Unite the Right” rally was organized by Jason Kessler, a white nationalist who described the event on his Facebook page as “biggest pro-Confederate right-wing rally of the year!” The rally began in Emancipation Park at around 7 a.m. and began spiraling out of control after two people were injured in an altercation near the park, the city said on its official twitter account. By about 11:30 a.m. Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency in Charlottesville, according to a statement released by his office.
A short time later a car drove through a crowd of people in the downtown area, killing one and injuring 19 others, Charlottesville police said on their Facebook page.
James Alex Fields Jr., 20 of Ohio, was arrested for the crash, the city said in a statement on its Twitter page. He’s 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.
Two Virginia State Troopers were also killed when their helicopter crashed in Albemarle County, Virginia State Police said on their Facebook page.
According to ABC News Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates were killed while assisting in the response to the violent rally.
As chaos ensued Kessler told people on his Twitter page to “be peaceful”