Charlottesville car attack

38°01′46.17″N 78°28′46.29″W / 38.0294917°N 78.4795250°W / 38.0294917; -78.4795250

Charlottesville car attack
Part of the Unite the Right rally
Photograph of the 2017 Charlottesville vehicle-ramming attack
Pulitzer Prize–winning photograph of the attack taken by Ryan Kelly for The Daily Progress
LocationSouthern half of the Downtown Mall, Charlottesville, Virginia
DateAugust 12, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-08-12)
c. 1:45 p.m.[1] (UTC-4)
TargetCrowd counter-protesting Unite the Right rally[2]
Attack type
Vehicle-ramming attack, domestic terrorism, murder, attempted mass murder
Weapons2010 Dodge Challenger[3]
Deaths1 (Heather Danielle Heyer)[4]
Injured35[4]
PerpetratorJames Alex Fields Jr.[4]
Motive
VerdictFederal verdict:
Pleaded guilty
State verdict:
Guilty on all counts
ConvictionsFederal convictions:

State convictions:

ChargesRacially motivated violent interference with a federally protected activity (dropped after plea deal)[11]
LitigationFields ordered to pay $12 million
SentenceFederal sentence:
Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole
State sentence:
Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole plus 419 years

The Charlottesville car attack was a white supremacist terrorist attack[12] perpetrated on August 12, 2017, when James Alex Fields Jr. deliberately drove his car into a crowd of people peacefully protesting the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, killing one person and injuring 35.[4][13] Fields, 20, had previously espoused neo-Nazi and white supremacist beliefs,[7] and drove from Ohio to attend the rally.[14]

Fields' attack was called an act of domestic terrorism by the mayor of Charlottesville, Virginia's public safety secretary, the U.S. attorney general, and the director of the FBI.

Fields was convicted in a state court of the first-degree murder of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, eight counts of malicious wounding, and hit and run.[15] He also pled guilty to 29 of 30 federal hate crime charges to avoid the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison plus 419 years for the state charges, with an additional life sentence for the federal charges.

  1. ^ Astor, Maggie (August 13, 2017). "A Guide to the Charlottesville Aftermath". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 14, 2017.
  2. ^ Bromwich, Jonah; Blinder, Alan (August 13, 2017). "What We Know About James Alex Fields Jr., Driver Charged in Charlottesville Killing". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 13, 2017.
  3. ^ Heim, Joe; Silverman, Ellie; Shapiro, T. Rees; Brown, Emma (August 13, 2017). "One dead as car strikes crowds amid protests of white nationalist gathering in Charlottesville; two police die in helicopter crash". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Mickolus, Edward (2019). Terrorism Worldwide, 2018. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-4766-3747-1.
  5. ^ a b c Ruiz, Joe (August 13, 2017). "Ohio Man Charged With Murder In Fatal Car Attack On Anti-White Nationalist March". The Two-Way. NPR. Archived from the original on August 17, 2017.
  6. ^ Blinder, Alan (August 13, 2017). "Suspect in Charlottesville Attack Had Displayed Troubling Behavior". The New York Times. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  7. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference Pilcher was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Records reveal tumultuous past was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Toy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Berg, Lauren (December 14, 2017). "Charge against Fields upgraded to first-degree murder". The Daily Progress. Charlottesville, Va. Archived from the original on January 6, 2018. Retrieved May 25, 2018.
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference DOJ Public Affairs was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Myre, Greg (August 14, 2017). "Why The Government Can't Bring Terrorism Charges In Charlottesville". NPR. Retrieved October 14, 2020. When Attorney General Jeff Sessions was asked how he viewed the car attack in Charlottesville, Va., here's how he responded: "It does meet the definition of domestic terrorism in our statute," he told ABC's Good Morning America.
  13. ^ Duggan, Paul (December 14, 2017). "Charge upgraded to first-degree murder for driver accused of ramming Charlottesville crowd". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 24, 2018.
  14. ^ Romo, Vanessa (December 7, 2018). "Charlottesville Jury Convicts 'Unite The Right' Protester Who Killed Woman". NPR. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference Duggan & Jouvenal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).