Suspect in Car Ramming Identified
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: -- people who turned out to counter their message of hate. Several people were hurt in these brawls. Then this. Awful, jarring, horrific images. One woman died in this crowd when that car accelerated into the group of people. They were protesting against the white nationalists. Several others were hurt, some of their injuries believe tonight to be life-threatening. An awful day for Charlottesville, a trying day for America, and what some commentators have even called the worst day for President Donald Trump, not for what he said but what he did not say. In a statement from his resort in New Jersey, the president condemned what he called an egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence from many sides. Many sides, he said. As of now he has not mentioned the words white supremacists, neo-Nazi or Ku Klux Klan, none of those words, not out loud, not on Twitter. The question is why. We will discuss all of that, but first let's get out to the streets. Let's get to Charlottesville and get a sense of what's going on. CNN correspondent Brian Todd is there. Brian, what are you seeing?</s>BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're near the scene of that car strike this afternoon. Some rain and lightning occurring now outside as nightfall has come here in Charlottesville, but we have some late information. You mentioned about a suspect being named. CNN just got this information a short time ago. The suspect we are told is 20-year-old James Alex Fields. He is from Maumee, Ohio. He was booked into the Albemarle Regional Jail this afternoon. He, authorities believed, was the driver of that gray Dodge sedan that plowed into the crowd just behind me here on 4th Street here in Charlottesville this afternoon. Again this is according to Martin Kumer, the superintendent of the Albemarle-Charlottesville County Regional Jail. This young man, James Alex Fields, 20-year-old James from Maumee, Ohio, he was booked into the jail. He faces a charge of one count of second-degree murder, three counts of malicious wounding and one count of failure to stop in an accident which resulted in a death. So he is booked in the jail. Witness accounts of what happened behind me are just horrific. I'm going to ask our photojournalist Jeremy Harland to zoom in on the accident scene. The two vehicles that this car struck are still there, that dark Honda van that is just over my left shoulder, we're zooming in on it now, and there's a white -- excuse me, a silver sedan right behind it. Those two vehicles were struck in this incident. You see a police barricade here, lots of police tape and debris there. This is still an active crime scene. Police are still processing some evidence from that scene this evening. Also, John, we have learned tonight according to the Virginia State Police the identities of two people killed in a helicopter crash. They are identified as Virginia State Police Officers H. Jay Cullen, 48 years old, and 40-year-old Berke Bates, he was the trooper pilot. This helicopter, a 407 Bell model, went down on Old Farm Road away from the city center. They're investigating the cause of that crash, but they are saying that this helicopter operated in relation to supporting the operations dealing with the protest today. So Governor Terry McAuliffe earlier today counted those two men with the casualty earlier, the death earlier of the 32-year-old female pedestrian. So in the governor's eyes that makes three people dead in this horrible day here in Charlottesville. We also have an update for you on injuries according to local police and other authorities, five people remain in critical condition in local hospitals, four people in serious condition, six in fair condition, and four in good condition. That's a total of 19 injured. However, we were told earlier that some 35 people were treated for various injuries throughout the course of the day, John. So, again, you know, nightfall has come. The weather has turned not so good. There's lightning and rain now here, so we're going to see what all of this brings for later on this evening -- John.</s>BERMAN: You know, rain and bad weather can often help law enforcement in situations like this. Brian, it looks quiet thankfully behind you. Any sense if these hate groups that were out in force last night and this morning, if they have plans for tonight?</s>TODD: We don't have a sense of that, John, but what we do have a sense of is the police deployments out here. I talked to the city manager, Maurice Jones, not too long ago. He said that they've got more than 700 law enforcement officers including Charlottesville Police, state police and others deployed out in the city tonight. He says they're very, very ready if something else happens. We don't have any word of any marches or anything like that but, again, as you know these things can percolate very quickly and something can spark something else and you can have some violence just, you know, start up very quickly here. So what we also are told is that the police chief of Charlottesville, Al Thomas, has been granted the authority to institute a curfew tonight. As of now he has not decided to do that yet, so we'll see if that occurs. So again, everyone from the police to the city managers to us here in the media monitoring what is going to happen in the coming hours.</s>BERMAN: A curfew available as an option should it be necessary. Brian Todd, stand by. Thank you so much for your reporting. We got a statement a short time ago from former president Barack Obama. He responded as we said to the clashes in Virginia. This is what he wrote. It was a quote from Nelson Mandela. "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion. People must learn to hate and if they can learn to hate they can be taught to love, because love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite." Now, as we mentioned, President Trump has been criticized heavily for his response to this today. He responded first on Twitter and then he made a statement, a public statement from his resort in New Jersey. I want to play you a short part of what he said.</s>DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. It's been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump, not Barack Obama, it's been going on for a long, long time.</s>BERMAN: "On many sides, on many sides," he said. Athena Jones is near the president's New Jersey resort. Athena, what is the president doing tonight and how does the White House explain the president's statements?</s>ATHENA JONES, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hi, John. Well, the press pool that was assigned to follow the president closely today got a lid, what's called a lid sometime ago. And so we have no new information on how he's spending the night other than to say that it's at his Bedminster golf club. But that phrase you heard at the end of that sound byte you just played from the president, on many sides, on many sides, this idea that there are many sides to blame for the violence that took place in Charlottesville, that has raised a lot of concern and gotten a lot of criticism. I asked several White House officials what he meant when he said that. This is what the official told me. They said the president was condemning hatred, bigotry and violence from all sources and all sides. There was violence between protesters and counter protesters today. Certainly there was violence between protesters and counter protesters today, but many people argue that the president is equating those who were marching with confederate flags with Nazi emblems, some wearing Nazi arm bands, some carrying Trump signs and wearing "Make America Great Again" hats. There's concern that the president was equating those people with the people who were protesting that sort of racial -- that sort of racism and white supremacy. And what is so interesting here is what the president did not say. We've been focusing on that a lot the last several hours, but we can't overstate the fact that this is a president who has passionately criticized a long list of people on Twitter and off while president and as a candidate. He has criticized his former rival, Hillary Clinton, fellow Republicans from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to Senator John McCain, to his own attorney general Jeff Sessions, not to mention the former FBI director James Comey, and the current special counsel Bob Mueller and, of course, the news media sometimes by name, calling the media the enemy of the people. And yet not on that list, John, is Nazis or neo-Nazis or white supremacists or white nationalists. In fact, he didn't even use those phrases in his remarks today. This is bipartisan criticism we are seeing, a condemnation I could say of the president's lack of condemnation. From the likes of Utah Republican Senator Orrin Hatch who wrote on Twitter, "We should call evil by its name. My brother didn't give his life fighting Hitler for Nazi ideas to go unchallenged here at home." Another Republican of Colorado, Senator Cory Gardner, said something similar on Twitter, saying, "Mr. President, we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism." Those are just two examples of several Republicans including John McCain and others like Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio who have used the terms white supremacy or white nationalist to talk about this. And so you have a president who's calling for unity, but a lot of folks questioning how can you begin to bring people together if you won't use this terminology, call it by its name. This from a man who often criticized folks like Obama and others for not using the term radical Islamic terrorism, now refusing to use the phrase white nationalist or white nationalism. And one more thing, John, I have asked several White House officials where the president stands on white nationalists and white nationalism and whether he plans to make any sort of statement condemning these groups at any point. I haven't gotten an answer from them. And we should note that the president was asked about this as he was leaving that brief appearance before the press today, asked if he wants the support of white nationalists, he ignored those shouted questions -- John.</s>BERMAN: All right. Athena Jones for us near Bedminster, New Jersey. Notable, the president's statement was at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. He's had five-and-a-half hours now to amend them and say something about white supremist or neo-Nazis or the clan if he wanted to respond to the criticism -- to respond to the criticism of the likes of Senator Cory Gardner. He has chosen not to do so. We will talk about why maybe later on. I want to bring in the vice mayor of Charlottesville, in the meantime. Wes Bellamy joins me now. Mr. Vice Mayor, thank you so much for being with us right now. We appreciate you being here. Give me a sense of the situation in Charlottesville right now.</s>VICE MAYOR WES BELLAMY, CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA: Thank you. Thanks again for having me. And before I address the situation in Charlottesville I just want our entire community, our city as well as the country to know that the images which you saw today do not define nor reflect who we are as a city or a community or a commonwealth for that matter. And we will be stronger after these actions. We will continue to rise and rally together, and I have the utmost confidence that the people that I know of the city of Charlottesville will lock arms, will rally together, will support each other and we will come out stronger because of this. Now to your question. In regards to the feelings around the city, I think people are obviously very sad. And I would also like to express my sincere condolences to those who lost their lives. I'm extremely disappointed and my heart and our gratitude goes out to them. But I think there's also a tale of two cities. Earlier today even while the protests and counter protest were going on I was at</s>BERMAN: Do you expect there to be any more flare ups of violence tonight? Any sense there will be more marches, counter-marches, things like that?</s>BELLAMY: Well, one thing I have learned is that in this kind of scenarios and situations you have to expect the unexpected. I am praying to God and I'm, hoping that the community, the country, everyone else will also pray that everyone will remain safe, people stay home and the violence ceases. But I'm also putting our faith in our police department as well as my faith in God and hoping that cooler heads will prevail.</s>BERMAN: Mr. Vice Mayor, do you have any information about the suspect now in custody, the man believe to have been behind the wheel of that car that plowed into the crowd of counter protesters? We are told his identity is James Alex Fields, 20 years old, a white male from Ohio. Do you have any more information about him?</s>BELLAMY: No, sir, I do not at this time.</s>BERMAN: We also understand -- we know that one person, a 32-year-old woman has been killed, many others, more than a dozen others injured. Any updates of the condition of the people who have been hurt?</s>BELLAMY: No, sir, not at liberty to speak on that at this time. But, again, my condolences goes out to the family of those who lost their lives, and we're praying for a speedy recovery of those who were injured. And I also think it's important to notate that this white supremacy. We're not going to call it white nationalism or just pretend that these are just guys who wanted to come down here and protest a statue removal. This white supremacy will not be tolerated and our community now has the opportunity to continue to stand together, denounce these supremacist acts and domestic terrorist acts and call it for what it is. And I hope that if we can come together now, if we can't come together after seeing all of these people come here and try to violate our community, if we can't come together now I don't know when we will. But my belief is that we will. I know that we will. Not only will we win, but we will stand together and do it together.</s>BERMAN: How important is it for you to say those words and to hear those words? We heard it from Governor Terry McAuliffe. We did not hear it from the president of the United States.</s>BELLAMY: Did the president say it?</s>BERMAN: He did not say white supremacist.</s>BELLAMY: He didn't.</s>BERMAN: He did not say neo-Nazi.</s>BELLAMY: Right.</s>BERMAN: He did not say Ku Klux Klan. Those were words he did not speak. How important do you think it is for him to say that?</s>BELLAMY: Well, I think that tells you what we need to know about 45. Furthermore, I think it is important again for us to call these individuals what they are. Your heard Governor McAuliffe as well as our mayor, Mayor Mike Signer, say exactly those words. And we all have been using those terms. These individuals are white supremacists. These individuals, they claim that they're patriots or they claim that they're defending, quote-unquote, "our land," their land. They believe that no one who was not of the pure white race or no one who doesn't look like them deserves to have a stake or a say in our community, and it's just not true. And we're not going to have it. Listen, I'm going to be very blunt and very honest with you here. I stand here as only the seventh African-American ever elected in our city's history, the only African-American on our city council and the youngest person ever elected. I want our community to know, even with all those things we will not be intimidated. My mayor, who is a Jewish man, he will not be intimidated. My fellow colleagues on city council, Miss Kristin Szakos, Miss Kathy Galvin, Mr. Bob Fenwick, all people who will not be intimidated. These individuals will not deter us from accomplishing our goal of bringing equity throughout the city. And that is the message that we will send. Stronger together, civil. Stand up.</s>BERMAN: Wes Bellamy, there, the vice mayor of Charlottesville. Have a calm and peaceful night.</s>BELLAMY: Dr. Bellamy. Dr. Bellamy.</s>BERMAN: Dr. Bellamy.</s>BELLAMY: I've just finished my dissertation. Yes, Dr. Bellamy. Shout out to</s>VSU. BERMAN: Anyone who finishes a dissertation deserves that respect. Dr. Bellamy, congratulations for that. Thank you very much for being with us tonight. And again, we wish you a calm and peaceful night. All right. We are watching the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, where one person died, at least 19 more injured in flares of violence sparked by neo-Nazis and white supremacists. Stay with CNN's special live coverage. We will be right back.