The man who killed a woman and injured 19 people when he plowed through a large crowd of people on a pedestrian mall in Charlottesville, Virginia, was charged with first degree murder in court Thursday.
Along with first degree murder, officials charged James Alex Fields Jr., 20, with one felony count of hit and run, five felony counts of malicious wounding, three felony counts of aggravated malicious wounding and one felony count of first degree murder.
Fields was originally charged with suspicion of second-degree murder and malicious wounding after he drove a Dodge Challenger into a large crowd on Aug. 12. during the “unite the right rally” in Charlottesville, Va. The incident left dozens injured and killed Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old paralegal who lived in Charlottesville.
Judge Robert Downer accepted the commonwealth’s motion in Thursday’s hearing to amend the second degree murder warrant pending against the man. (RELATED: We Got Behind The Lines Of White Supremacy In Charlottesville. Here’s What We Saw)
(James Alex Fields Jr./Photo by Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail via Getty Images)
(The car that plowed through a crowd of protestors/Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Fields’ Jr. will face the charges in front of a grand jury of the Charlottesville Circuit Court December 18.
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