A memorial service is set for this morning for the 32-year-old woman killed after a car rammed into a crowd of people who were counter-protesting a white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Saturday.
The memorial for Heather Heyer of Charlottesville is expected to begin at 11 a.m. at Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater.
The Saturday crash that killed Heyer took place at a Unite the Right rally spurred by Charlottesville’s plan to remove a Confederate statue from a local park. The rally was attended by neo-Nazis, skinheads and Ku Klux Klan members, and the white nationalists were met with hundreds of counter-protesters, which led to street brawls and violent clashes.
A driver plowed into counter-protesters, killing Heyer and injuring several others. The suspected driver is in custody, facing charges including second-degree murder.
Two Virginia State Troopers helping with the response to the clashes also died that day in a helicopter crash.
Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, told ABC News that her daughter, who worked as a paralegal, was a “very passionate person. … She had very strong beliefs, and even as a small child she was fierce about defending her beliefs.”
According to a statement from the Paramount, Heyer “was an outspoken, outgoing, determined and passionate individual and had a special regard for social injustices and especially those concerning race relations.”
Bro told ABC News she is numb over the loss of her daughter, but she doesn’t want “more hate brought by my daughter’s death. … I want peace that she would want. I want change. I want equality. I want fairness, and I want it done peacefully.”
The Paramount said seating at the memorial service will be on a first-come, first-served basis, and that friends and family attending the service are asked to wear purple, Heyer’s favorite color.
