'She wanted to put down hate': Heather Heyer remembered in Charlottesville

Family, friends, supporters and other mourners gathered in Charlottesville Wednesday to honor a 32-year-old legal assistant who was killed when a car plowed into a crowd of people who turned out to protest a white supremacist rally.

Heather Heyer's shocking death in the narrow streets of Charlottesville on Saturday followed a day and a half of violent clashes with counter-protesters after Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis descended on the small Virginia college town to rally against the city's decision to remove a monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee.

"She wanted respect for everyone. In our family, all lives mattered, and she absorbed that really well," Heyer's grandfather Elwood Shrader said.

Her father, Mark Heyer, said she loved people and pushed for equality. 

"She wanted to put down hate. We just need to stop all this stuff and love one another," he said.

Susan Bro, her mother, brought up the Facebook post that peppered social media in the days following Heyer's death. '

“My child’s famous Facebook post was, ‘If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,’” she said. “She paid attention. She made a lot of us pay attention.”

Bro said she hopes the memorial is just the beginning of "Heather's legacy" and encouraged attendees to make a difference in the world.

"The reason that what happened to Heather struck a chord is that we know what she did was achievable," Bro said. "They tried to kill my daughter to shut her up. Well, guess what. You just magnified her."

Police charged James Alex Fields Jr., 20, from Ohio, with second-degree murder for allegedly slamming his car into counter-protesters leaving the area after police canceled the white supremacist rally.

Fields, who initially fled the scene in his badly damaged car, was described by a former high school teacher as an admirer of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany. 

The vigil became a symbol of the community's effort to stand up to hate. The Paramount Theater, which hosted the memorial service, said it arranged for overflow attendees to view the vigil through a livestream. 

Attendees were asked to wear purple, Heyer's favorite color, in her memory.

More:Live stream: Memorial for Charlottesville victim Heather Heyer

President Trump tweeted Wednesday morning about the service.

"Memorial service today for beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman. She will be long remembered by all!" the tweet read.

Heyer, who grew up in nearby Green County and worked at a law firm, was remembered by loved ones as a courageous believer in justice and equality. Family members said they hoped the memorial service would serve to spread the message of her compassion.

Bro said she would prefer to grieve in private but felt compelled to try to follow her daughter’s example.

“I miss her so, so much, but I’m going to make her death worth something,” Bro told the Associated Press. 

Heyer's boss, Larry Miller, said she was active in the firm’s bankruptcy practice and was like a family member to him.

“She’s very compassionate, she’s very precise, got a big heart, she wants to make sure that things are right. She cares about the people that we take care of. She’s just a great person,” Miller said.

Also killed Saturday were two Virginia State Police troopers aboard a helicopter that was providing video of the event before it broke off to lend support to a motorcade for Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe. The helicopter crashed outside of Charlottesville. An investigation into the crash is ongoing.

A funeral for Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates has been set for Friday and a funeral for Lt. H. Jay Cullen, the helicopter’s pilot, is scheduled for Saturday.

Contributing: Associated Press, (Staunton, Va.) News Leader reporters Laura Peters and Mike Tripp.