The world watched in horror as James Alex Fields, Jr. allegedly plowed into a crowd of people protesting the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. The car accident has killed at least one woman, activist Heather Heyer , and has put at least five people in critical condition. Nineteen more are said to have been injured in the crash.
James Fields, the alleged driver of the car, had traveled from Ohio to Virginia to attend the event, and his high school history teacher, Derek Weimer, has confirmed that the young man has been deeply entrenched in the white nationalist movement and has had Nazi sympathizer views since his high school days.
“It was obvious that he had this fascination with Nazism and a big idolatry of Adolf Hitler. He had white supremacist views. He really believed in that stuff.”
According to Weimer, in his junior and senior history classes that Fields attended, the young man wrote a very detailed research paper on World War II. While Weimer found it to be extremely well-written, he was also alarmed by the fact that it was incredibly biased toward the Nazis. After reading the paper, Weimer says he tried to dissuade Fields from his sympathy toward one of the world’s most evil and destructive dictators by using facts instead of opinion, but ultimately, the Kentucky teacher feels he failed his student.
James Fields is being held on suspicion of second-degree murder, as well as malicious wounding and does not have a bail set. He will be arraigned for his alleged crimes on Monday, where no doubt, the media will be watching with intensity.
James’ mother, Samantha Bloom, who has been raising her son by herself since his father’s death shortly before James’ birth, says she was not aware of her son’s involvement in white supremacist groups. She told a newspaper that she thought the rally had “something to do with Trump” and not any kind of Nazi rally.
Bloom has not commented on Weimer’s reports that Fields had been a Nazi sympathizer since he was young. According to Fields’ family, the 20-year-old man was reluctant to speak about politics and rarely ever brought them up at family gatherings. He often chose to remain silent, and his extended family says they rarely saw much of him — especially since he asked for the money owed to him from his father’s death at 18 and summarily very few family members heard from him since.
[Featured Image by Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail/Getty Images]
