Crowd Gathers to Memorialize Heather Heyer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA – “Mourning” was the most fitting word to describe what was happening in downtown Charlottesville Sunday afternoon, as people gathered at the location where Heather Heyer was run over and killed Saturday, but also to mourn the loss of civility and humanity in our communities.

Other parts of the Downtown Mall, a popular retail and restaurant area, was somber but peaceful as businesses re-opened and residents returned to a part of town that was shut down Saturday.

Blocks away, earlier in the day, peaceful protesters drowned out white supremacist organizer Jason Kessler. Charlottesville resident Jennifer Richardson says she’s known Kessler for 10 years. She says he was a staunch liberal when they first met. Richardson wrote a lengthy Facebook post, detailing their relationship. She says, “I wanted to give kind of a history, given my relationship with Jason Kessler over the years, how I met him, how he appeared to me when we first became friends and how that has changed and morphed over the years into somebody that I don’t even recognize and am ashamed to have any friendship with.”

Richardson says Kessler just wants somewhere, anywhere to fit in. She looks back now and regrets distancing herself from him years ago.

She says, “Maybe if I’d stepped in and told him he was worth it and he could do anything he put his mind to, then he wouldn’t have gotten wrapped up in his own delusions that led him to the path he’s taken today.”

That idea of stepping in and engaging is something WCCB News @ Ten anchor Morgan Fogarty heard repeatedly from Charlottesville residents. Jonny Nuckols was walking through the Downtown Mall draped in a Black Lives Matter and LGBT pride flag Sunday afternoon. He says, “What happened yesterday is unacceptable.” And, “Everyone needs to stand up to it in their daily lives. Reach out to family members who have racist philosophies and speak out every time you see it.”

Jessica Tiller is an attorney in Charlottesville. She says, “We can’t just say, ‘Can’t we all just get along,’ because that’s just putting a band aid over a wound that is festering, and we need to understand why it’s been created and how we are continuing to allow it to fester.”

A planned memorial for Heather Heyer on Sunday night was canceled due to safety concerns.