Racist ‘United the Right’ rally results in Heather Heyer dead, 35 injured; State Troopers Jay Cullen, Berke Bates die in helicopter crash
A “United the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent and resulted in one person being killed with over 30 others injured. On Saturday, Lieutenant Cullen and Trooper Bates were in a Bell 407 helicopter circling the violent demonstrations of white nationalists and their chopper crashed, killing them both.
Identified as Heather Heyer, 32, the woman was killed when a man drove his car directly into a group of counter-protesters. Police identified James Alex Fields Jr. as the driver, and he is currently facing numerous charges including second-degree murder.
“Heather was not about hate, Heather was about stopping hatred,” Bro said in an interview with the Huffington Post. “Heather was about bringing an end to injustice. I don’t want her death to be a focus for more hatred, I want her death to be a rallying cry for justice and equality and fairness and compassion.”
Lieutenant H. Jay Cullen, left, and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates of the Virginia State Police
The recent vote to remove a confederate statue of General Robert E. Lee sparked the protest and ultimate clash between the alt-right groups gathered in Charlottesville’s Emancipation Park. Hundreds of counter protesters also gathered in downtown Charlottesville.
Tensions between the groups soon escalated. Fights broke out and bottles, sticks, and other objects were thrown into the crowd.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe has declared a state of emergency and police and members of the National Guard have since cleared the streets. To the white nationalists, he said: “Go home. … You are not wanted in this great commonwealth. Shame on you.”
President Trump has released a statement following the escalation of violence.
“We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It has been going on for a long time in our country — not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama. It has been going on for a long, long time. It has no place in America.”
