James Alex Fields Jr., the suspect in Saturday's deadly ramming at a protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, is being held at the Albermarle-Charlottesville County Regional Jail and now we're learning more details about the 20-year-old Ohio man.
He's accused of plowing his car into a group of anti-white supremacist protesters at a rally in Charlottesville on Saturday. One person was killed and another 19 were left injured.
According to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Fields was arraigned Monday morning at the Charlottesville General District Court.
Here are five things to know about the accused:
1. Fields was fascinated by Nazism as a schoolboy — History teacher Derek Weimer told The Washington Post that Field’s supremacist views were developed by the time he reached high school. Weimer taught Fields at Randall K. Cooper High School in Kentucky and says he once turned in a thoroughly researched paper on Nazi military for his “America’s Modern Wars” class.
“He had white supremacist views. He really believed in that stuff,” Weimer said.
Although he tried to use academic reasoning with Fields, Weimer says he failed to steer the then teen’s attention away from Nazism.
2. Fields used his own car for the attack — BuzzFeed News posted photos of memes and photos from a Facebook page reportedly belonging to Fields. One of the photographs, posted in 2015, shows Fields leaning against a gray Dodge. One of the comments under it suggests that it is his first car.
AJC.com reported that the Dodge Challenger used in the attack is indeed registered to Fields. Although the car was fitted with Lucas County tags, Fields was charged in June for "having expired or unlawful license plates."
3. Fields' mother found out about the incident from the media — When The Associated Press visited Field’s mother Samantha Bloom on Saturday to speak about the incident, she was shocked. The journalist can be heard confirming whether she’d been notified about what happened, to which she clearly answers: “No.”
Bloom knew her son was going to a rally, but says she thought it had something to do with Trump, Time reported.
4. Fields was enlisted in the U.S. Army — According to BuzzFeed News, Fields enlisted in August 2015, after graduating earlier that year.
Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Jennifer Johnson confirmed this in a statement released Sunday, but added that he left only a few months later.
"He was . . . released from active duty due to a failure to meet training standards in December of 2015," Johnson told BuzzFeed "As a result he was never awarded a military occupational skill nor was he assigned to a unit outside of basic training."
5. Fields faces multiple charges — CNN reported that Fields is facing charges of failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death, malicious wounding, and second-degree murder.
His initial court appearance took place Monday morning via video link from the Virginia jail where he is being held. NBC reported via Twitter that he was denied bond.