Man accused of driving into crowd denied bond

Woman was killed at ‘Unite the Right’ rally

Block News Alliance

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — A judge set no bond pending a hearing and the court’s appointment of an attorney for James Alex Fields Jr., the 20-year-old Ohio man accused of driving his car into a crowd of people protesting against a white nationalist rally called “Unite the Right” on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va., killing one woman and injuring 19 other people.

At the same time, the university town that was the scene of the weekend chaos tried to return to business. But outrage, sadness and, at times, tension continued to fill the streets of Charlottesville, as residents grappled with fallout from the deadlyviolence.

Severalhoped a federal investigation into the case widens into terrorismor hate crime charges. • “First Amendment supporters” call for protest in Bakery Square, B-1

Earlier Monday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in television appearances that the violence met thedefinition of domestic terrorism.

Meanwhile, more details about Mr.Fields emerged.

For instance, years before Mr. Fields allegedly rammed his car into a panicked crowd of activists in Charlottesville, it was his disabled mother — she uses a wheelchair — whowas terrified.

Samantha Bloom once locked herself in a bathroom when her then-13-year-old son threatened to beat her up at their Florence, Ky., condo, according to a police call for service report.

There were also times when her

son walked around with a knife, hit her in the head, and threatened to beat her up.

The two moved to the Toledo area about a year ago, themother previously said.

The details of life in Kentucky came a day after reports that while a high school student there, Mr. Fields confided to a teacher he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia when he was younger and had been prescribed an anti-psychotic medication. The former teacher also said Mr. Fields idolized Adolf Hitler and was fascinated withNazism.

Also, Mr. Fields worked as a private security officer in Ohio. Securitas Security Services USA Inc. said he was on vacation at the time of the bloodshed and had a satisfactoryemployment record.

A handful of neighbors or workers where Mr. Fields lived in the Toledo area said Monday they had no interactionwith him.

In Charlottesville, Mr. Fields was denied bond after the public defender’s office said it couldn’t represent him becausea relative of someone in the office was injured in Saturday’s protest. Judge Robert Downer was forced to find a local attorney to fill in, Charles Weber, who did not immediately respond to phone messages. No one answered the door at his office Monday.

Mr. Fields appeared via videoMonday at General District Court. He looked downward for much of the time before his hearing began. He appeared despondent throughout, as a crowded courtroom, filled largely with reporters, watchedhis expressions.

Mr. Fields repeatedly answered “yes, sir,” to the judge’s questions. He is next due in court Aug. 25 on charges of murder, malicious wounding,and hit and run.

Around Charlottesville, residents displayed photos, candles and messages in honor of Heather Heyer, 32, the woman killed Saturday. Also on Saturday, the crash of a state police helicopter that had been monitoring the protests killed two troopers, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Berke M.M. Bates.

The hate seen over the weekend has been inside many for some time, but more recently it has come to the surface, said Justina Dooms, 58. Soon after a reporter for The Blade of Toledo first approached Ms. Dooms, who is black, a white man began harassing her. He raised his voice while blaming African-Americans for strained racial relations before he left.

Meanwhile, the Charlottesville police chief defended his department’s response to the weekend mayhem, responding to criticism his officers did not do enough toprevent the bloodshed.

Elsewhere, several hundred people were marching Monday through the streets ofMaumee, the Ohio city where Mr. Fields had been living, for a “March AgainstWhite Supremacy.”

At the same time, protesters toppled a long-standing statue of a Confederate soldier outside a Durham, N.C., courthouse. And a Texas lawmaker said Texas A&M University won’t host a “white lives matter” rally on the campus next month.

The Block News Alliance consists of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and The Blade of Toledo, Ohio. Ryan Dunn is a reporter for The Blade.

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Matthew Heinbach, center, of the white nationalist Traditionalist Workers Party is surrounded by journalists and protesters Monday outside the General District Court building in Charlottesville, Va.

Jonathan Drew/Associated Press Claire Meddock, 21, stands on a toppled Confederate statue Monday evening in Durham, N.C. Activists used a rope to pull down the monument outside the courthouse.

James Alex Fields Jr.