Following the deadly vehicular rampage that left a woman dead and scores more injured in Virginia during a “Unite the Right” rally, the U.S. federal government has started a civil rights investigation.
On Saturday night, Attorney General Jeff Sessions issued a statement, announcing the probe.
“The Richmond FBI Field Office, the Civil Rights Division, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia have opened a civil rights investigation into the circumstances of the deadly vehicular incident that occurred earlier Saturday morning,” Sessions stated. “The FBI will collect all available facts and evidence, and as this is an ongoing investigation we are not able to comment further at this time.”
Ohio man James Alex Fields Jr., 20, was charged with second-degree murder and a slew of other charges in connection with the deadly crash.
The “Unite the Right” rally was initiated to protest against the city of Charlottesville’s decision to take down Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s statue.
In the protest, white nationalists clashed with other protesters and police. Ex-KKK leader David Duke was reportedly in attendance, as was Richard Spencer, president of the National Policy Institute.
The violence was summarily condemned by Sessions and other Trump administration officials.
