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Here’s the timeline of events on Aug. 12:
7:39 a.m. – David Duke, the former Klan leader, tweets, “Today will be a historic day, remembered as the moment everything changed. #Charlottesville #UniteTheRight”
8:30 a.m. – Demonstrators begin to gather. The Virginia State Police posts a photo at 8:40 a.m. on its Twitter account of men carrying weapons and wearing fatigues. “Participants for today’s rally at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville begin to arrive. #cvilleaug12”
10:30 a.m. – First outbreak of violence.
11 a.m. – CNN leads its 11 a.m. hour with footage of the clashes between the protesters and counterprotesters. White nationalists can be seen holding wooden shields, carrying weapons and wearing helmets.
11:28 a.m. – Virginia governor declares a state of emergency.
11:37 a.m. – Virginia State Police tweets, “UPDATE: Unlawful assembly declared at Charlottesville rally #cvilleaug12”
11:55 a.m. – Police start to make arrests. State police tweets at 11:55 a.m., “Arrests are being made following declaration of unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park in Charlottesville. #cvilleaug12”
12:40 p.m. – Protesters and counterprotesters gather at nearby Justice Park.
1:02 p.m. – Corinne Geller, a spokeswoman for Virginia State Police, says in an interview with Fox News that “all sides” had engaged in throwing bottles and other debris in what had been — as of that point — a violent, but non-fatal confrontation.
1:19 p.m. – Trump tweets, “We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!”
1:31 p.m. – CNN airs an interview with Duke at the rally, which he said represents a “turning point.” The former Klan grand wizard said, “We’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump. That’s what we believed in. That’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said we’re going to take our country back. And that’s what we gotta do.”
1:40 p.m. – A driver, later identified as James Alex Fields Jr., speeds down Fourth Street and into a crowd of counterprotesters who are marching in the street. Fields then throws the car in reverse and speeds away.
2:01 p.m. – On Twitter, Duke criticizes Trump’s tweet calling for everyone to “condemn all that hate stands for.” Duke retweets Trump’s post and writes, “So, after decades of White Americans being targeted for discriminated & anti-White hatred, we come together as a people, and you attack us?”
2:03 p.m. – Duke posts a second tweet to Trump. In it, Duke says, “I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists.”
2:14 p.m. – Virginia State Police posts a photo of the crash scene, saying “several pedestrians” were struck and that there were “multiple injuries.”
2:49 p.m. – Fox News posts a video of the car attack. The Fox News reporter says that witnesses described the attack as “absolutely intentional.”
3:30 p.m. – CNN reports it had “now confirmed from Charlottesville Mayor Mike Signer that one person has died, in fact, today during the violent events in the city.”
3:33 p.m. – Trump speaks about Charlottesville at a bill-signing ceremony. He blames “many sides” for the violence.
4:18 p.m. – Fox News tweets that the driver was in custody for “intentional collaborated car attack in #charlottesville.”
5 p.m. – Shortly after 5 p.m., a Virginia State Police helicopter monitoring the rally crashes and two state troopers are killed.
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