Your time. Thank you, joy. You can catch me tomorrow. In the meantime, keep it right here on msnbc. Joy, thanks very much. Were going to continue our coverage right here on msnbc through the next hour keeping everybody up to speed on the violence that happened in charlottesville today and we continue with the breaking News Coverage and there have been three deaths that happened today all caused by the White Nationalist in charlottesville, virginia. The governor, Terry Mccaauliffe said that a 32yearold female was killed by Police Killed excuse me. By the driver of that car. Police are calling this a criminal homicide investigation. A male driver plowed into this group of counterprotesters. They were targeted. Nine others were injured. The hospital says five in Critical Condition and four in serious condition. Police tell nbc news that the driver of the vehicle that caused the womans death then fled the scene but is now in custody. As you see with this video, the car without braking mowed down counterprotesters with bodies flying into the air upon contact. The Driver Backing Up and then injuring others as he escaped. Shortly before 5 00 p. M. , a Virginia StatePolice Helicopter crashed and killed two officers who had been patrolling the White Nationalist rally. The crash marked a very long day. Violent clashes on the ground. White nationalists clashed with police. Tear gas was released into the crowd. A witness says that the White Nationalists committed an act of terrorism. What happens, when
pedestrians get plowed into by an automobile, is called a terrorist attack. This should be called what it was. Somebody has died for the White Nationalist cause on american soil. Shortly after the incident, President Trump spoke. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. Its been going on for a long time in our country. Not barack obama, not barack obama. Its been going on for a long, long time. Theres no place in america. What is vital now is a Swift Restoration Of Law Order and the protection of innocent lives. No citizen should ever fear for their safety and security in our
society, no matter our color, creed, religion or Political Party we are all americans first. But the president is taking some heat for not condemning the White Nationalists by name and Governor Terry mcauliffe a while ago did that. Taking on the White Supremacist and nazis. I have a message for the White Supremacist and nazis that came inTo Charlottesville. Go home. You are not wanted in this great commonwealth. Shame on you. So strong words there. Were trying to get new information about the Helicopter Crash that happened just before 5 00 p. M. When we learned about that happening just southwest of the city Of Charlottesville. Two troopers lost their lives in that. So i want to get you back to the
scene. Joining me is tom costello. I know youve had ran opportunity to speak with some eyewitnesss and this has been a hellacious day for people in charlottesville and for people in the Police Community having to deal with the clashes and then the loss of life of one person and now two troopers. Reporter thats right. This has been a horrific day of racist rhetoric, of who would have imagined that in 2017 were talking about one of the biggest gatherings of White Nationalists, of kkks, of neonazis and of this altright White Nationalist movement in decades. Behind me, were at the scene where that car, according to the police, intentionally mowed down counterprotesters, killing at least one woman and just seconds before you came here, they brought in the state police crime investigation, forensics trucks. So this looks to be like this will be part of the
two State Troopers killed in that. So all of this comes together to create one of the most horrific days in charlottesville, at least in recent memory and history. All of that youll recall is the statue of the confederate war general robert e. Lee which charlottesvilles city Council Voted to remove from the middle of the town and that sparked this outrage from the White Nationalists, from the altright movement, who thought that in fact he should that that statue should not be taken down and it represents, in their view, an attack on white nationalism, on their religion, and in the view of some that we talked to, the white man in the south. So that created the tension. It boiled over last night in really an eerie scene at nightfall we saw many of the White Nationalists coming through the streets Of Charlottesville carrying torches
and it was reminiscent of those scenes that we saw in nazi, germany, in the 30s in which you saw people coming with torches through kristallnacht. It was really very eerie. These people say they were here to defend their culture that is being sabotaged by The Ruling Class and ruling party and they think an attitude in the country of political correctness. That fed into the Boiling Point that we saw today and it was a horrific day. One last thought. Police are everywhere in this town Of Charlottesville. The largest deployment of Virginia State troopers in decades. They are everywhere in this town. The County Police are everywhere. They are determined not to have a repeat of this and they have essentially declared all of this an unlawful gathering. The question is, will they come back . Back to you. The governor in his statement was pretty determined in saying, go home, get out, theres really no place for you here, especially with these types of views. Tom, when it comes to the crash site, i know thats some distance outside Of Charlottesville, but have police said or any investigators given any intelligence as to the cause of this crash . I know that it was an aircraft that was being used to monitor the White Nationalist rally. It was a bell helicopter. I apologize. I dont have the model in front of me. It was a bell and state trooper helicopter. Theres no indication that that was brought down by fire. In other words, by Somebody Firing on the chopper. We believe preliminarily that this is unrelated to the
incident insofar as why it went down. And it is a question to ask about why it had come under some kind of an attack because of the confirmation from so many eyewitnesss of carrying firearms, Open Firearms reporter yes. But i do need to stress this, because it crashed several miles away from charlottesville and from where we are. I have nothing from anybody to suggest that that may have been a factor. Well continue to ask the questions. Great, tom. Thank you very much. The police chief, too, they did not give much insight. Terry mcauliffe, about details of the two troopers. Careful about the conjecture. Absolutely. Our tom costello on the scene there for us. I want to bring in now karen wood. She was very close to the site
where that driver, the man now in custody, used his vehicle to ram into a crowd of counterprotesters today. Can you hear me . Yes. How close were you do the scene . I dont know. Probably a hundred yards. I saw a vehicle that sped into people. We were just there and suddenly people were screaming and we saw someone running back and then suddenly the vehicle reversed and sped back in reverse. And it was dragging its back bumper. Were you aware of the events that happened between the counterprotesters and the people there for the unite the right rally . I was there on july 7th for the early kkk rally and then for the whole thing and then today i was just there to support a friend who was alone. I didnt want her to be by herself. She was a unite the right no, she was a counterproteste counterprotesters. Did you realize at the time what had happened or were you just kind of in shock of what you were seeing . We were all kind of in shock. We thought, was there a bomb going off . Was it dragging a person . We didnt know. Im an american indian. To see this happen in my town, i have a lot of history. Its not okay whats happening right now. Karenne, your reaction, did you have a chance to see the governor speak and his message . Not yet. He was saying that for people that have this view of the White Supremacy, to go home. Theres no place for it here. Do you agree with that statement . Absolutely. What theyre saying is that they are the Indigenous People of america and its so wrong. Thats true. So far from the truth. The governor brought that up as well, saying that unless youre a native american, you are an immigrant and you are related genetically to an immigrant of this country. Thank you for your time. Im glad youre okay. Joining me right now for more on
this is shawn henry and president of crowd strike services. Also with me retired nypd lieutenant as well as Terrorism Analyst and Senior Partner at flash point evan coleman. Good to have you with me. Evan, the fact that this is what many people and weve heard from our elected leaders and other people in trying to classify this as an act of terrorism. Is it fair to call it that . We dont know the identity of the person who carried this out or his exact motivation. It does appear to be an intentional act. Based on the video, its hard to imagine how this could have been an accident. We have to be careful. We cant get ahead of what the authorities are going to say. You look at this and i think the Natural Inclination is to compare this to what happened in nice and a variety of other incidents where people have used
vehicles like this. Should we be reacting to this like it was isis or anyone else who decided to murder people. We want to see what Law Enforcement says but its very disturbing and does appear to be an act of Domestic Terrorism and may not have been planned out well but this person murdered someone and it should be treated exactly as such. When we see homegrown terrorism immediately and we have them identified, looked at their Social Media Footprint that may give credence to this act of violence that theyve been perpetrated, certainly weve done that internationally as well. We dont have the identity as of yet for the suspect driver in this. But for the police, as they had said for charlottesville, they had anticipated and prepped for incidents, scenarios. Did they show enough force between these clashes . There was only one person retained leading up to this event. It presents an acrimonious environment and there are clashes between both groups. One of the things that the Police Department needs to focus on is the separation of those groups. As our counterpart mentioned, you used an example of what happened in nice. Vehicle attacks are more and more prevalent. Its a Teachable Moment for Law Enforcement because whenever we have these types of asemblances, we need to keep the vehicle traffic away. Case in point, in a place like New York City, whenever we have demonstrations, one of the first orders of business is to ensure that there are no vehicles aligning the pedestrian route. Here, this is a small town. Unfortunately, they dont experience demonstrations of the magnitude of New York City or los angeles. This is a Teachable Moment to ensure that the combination of both the local Police Department and the state Police Department are able to coalesce and come up with a strategy that is prudent moving forward to ensure that these things happen moving forward. For the incident with the Helicopter Crash, there are fbi representatives on the scene for this investigation and certainly most likely there would be coordination from the fbi and what took place with one woman killed in this crash earlier today. Where does the fbi go in trying to build a case of Connective Intelligence if the person behind the wheel of this car is representative of some of the people there, as the police chief called it, premeditated violence of the unite the right rally . I think evan did a good job
of describing this Domestic Terrorism issue. There are a lot of facts that have to be collected. I think if in fact this is somebody associated with this group, it meets the definition of Domestic Terrorism. Using the threat of violence, it matches very clearly that definition. The fbi will be working collectively with the fbi and charlottesville police. If in fact they work this as a terrorism matter, they will be working in a very collaborative way. Ill be very shocked if that if the residents in the vehicle of the person who committed this act has not already been searched. They certainly will be looking at the full digital footprint connectivity and any statements he may have made, associations or affiliations with others who
may have made a violent statement or implied acts of violence either in the past and conducted and participated or talking about doing that in the future. So there is a lot of evidence to be collected but the bureau has resources in terms of analytical support, et cetera. This will be a very collaborative closeknit perspective. If the president doesnt make a definitive statement in terms of it being a homegrown terrorist attack, does he lose potential footing of not having lone wolves or other people being inspired by this type of behavior . Their ideology is a secondary issue. Its nothing to do with their a actual acts. Its Domestic Terrorism, period. Its completely wrong and undermines our Essential Values as americans. Somebody like this should be treated as a traitor to the United States and exactly what they are, a murderer. Evan, darren, thank you. Sean henry, thank you as well. More reaction of this violence that happened from charlottesville. So much of it has come very swiftly from elected officials, both sides of the aisle. But some are questioning how President Trump characterized his reaction to this. Some think it didnt go far enough to condemn the groups involved today and also did he show enough compassion to the lives that were lost. That angle when our Breaking News continues right here on msnbc. Stay with us. Whoooo. When you clock out, ill clock in. Sensing and automatically adjusting to your every move. There. I can also help with this. Does your bed do that . Im the new sleep number 360 smart bed. Lets meet at a sleep number store. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred and bigotry and violence on many sides. On many sides. Its been going on for a long time in our country. Not donald trump, not barack obama. Its been going on for a long, long time. There is no place in america. What is vital now is a Swift Restoration Of Law Order and the protection of innocent lives. Hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides. There we have the words of President Trump earlier today talking about the incidents in charlottesville, virginia. This is a new Lightning Rod of a rash sh
racial angering moment. The president faced outrage from critics both for what he said and didnt say. Former Vice President al gore chastised the president late today as the Net Roots Nation conference in atlanta was taking place. Take a look. I would urge you to give more thought to what it means to have a resurgence of the ku klux klan and Nazi Movement creating this kind of hatefulness. With me now, joe watkins, white house aide to the first President Bush and political analyst Joel Benneson for Hillary Clintons 2016 campaign and nbc White House Reporter ali vitali. Ali, i was fascinated by your note before, just to give us that friendly gentle reminder of what we all lived through in the primary and general election of
the president s inclination to have tweeted or instagrammed or represented, as he said, maybe not intentionally, racist or antisemitic statements before and this is a statement tonight from him about charlottesville where he did not come down o