Fallout from protests felt in Centerville
3 identified on social media no longer live in city, officials say.
Three men accused on social media of attending the white supremacy “Unite the Right” event in Charlottesville, Virginia, no longer live in Centerville, a spokesman for the city’s police
department told this newspaper. The three men have ties to the Dayton suburb, but no longer live in Centerville, despite the social
media reports stating otherwise, said Officer John Davis, the Centerville Police Department com- munity relations officer.
One of the three men with Centerville ties also has connections to Mason, but no longer lives there, said Mason Police Department Lt. Jeff Burson. A Mason City Schools spokeswoman said the man attended Mason High School, but did not graduate from there.
Davis said the department is trying to be proactive against “a potential problem.” None of the men face criminal charges, he said.
“We’re aware of the reports,
and we’re looking into how they might affect the different jurisdictions,” Davis said. “If somebody’s looking for them, there could be a potential problem.”
The “Unite the Right” rally was held by white nationalists and others who oppose a plan to remove from a Charlottesville park of a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The identities of the three men have been discussed widely in social media as part of a national effort to identify individuals who participated in the white-supremacist gathering. The event resulted in widespread fights in downtown Charlottesville between participants and counter-protesters. Two Virginia highway patrol officers died when their helicopter crashed after the event.
News of the southwest Ohio connections quickly spread online, and local officials sought to distance themselves from their reported actions.
“It is hard to reconcile that several Ohioans appear to have been part of the horrific violence that occurred in Charlottesville over the weekend,” said Tracey Carson, a Mason City Schools spokeswoman. “Our students and their families deserve to know that we are allies in the fight against bigotry.”
Attempts to reach the men were unsuccessful.
A judge on Monday denied bond for another Ohio man accused of plowing his car into a crowd in Charlottesville. Judge Robert Downer said during a bond hearing he would appoint a lawyer for James Alex Fields Jr., 20, of Maumee, Ohio, near Toledo. One woman was killed after being struck by the car.
The violence in Charlottesville could “further motivate” white nationalists, a local expert warned.
That Fields was charged with second-degree murder means authorities believe it was in some form premeditated, said Patrick Oliver, associate professor of criminal justice at Cedarville University. It also means Fields could serve up to 10 or 20 years in prison if convicted, Oliver said.
It’s too early to tell exactly what the weekend incidents in Virginia will lead to but there will likely be some “real and quick repercussions,” that could include copycat attacks, said Glenn Duerr, an associate professor of international relations at Cedarville University.
“There are various areas of potential flash-points where we could see more protests and counter-protests,” Duerr said.
Duerr said the killing of the counter-protester checks “most of the boxes” of being considered domestic terrorism. He said national leaders and President Donald Trump need to do more to disavow the hate of white nationalists to try to better prevent such violence in the future.
Trump was criticized over the weekend by both Republicans and Democrats for not explicitly denouncing hate groups when he spoke about the violence in Charlottesville. On Monday, Trump made a statement at the White House, calling racism “evil” and specifically calling out the Ku Klux Klan, Neo-Nazis and other white supremacists.
“To anyone who acted criminally in this weekend’s racist violence, you will be held fully accountable,” Trump said. “Justice will be delivered.”
While Duerr suggested the attack could spur more attacks, he said it has the potential to also launch a second civil rights movement in America.
Further responses to the attack will depend on what dominates the cycle of current events, Duerr said. He suggested that North Korea’s nuclear capabilities could easily steal the attention of public officials and leaders again soon.
While the attack will likely serve as a “stain on the shimmer of the United States,” it likely won’t serve as a potent example of domestic terrorism like 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
“It really does depend on what happens in the next little bit,” Duerr said. “As a terrorist attack it will rank low, but given this connection to a wider narrative, it could get put in a history book some day.”