Charlottesville is preparing a memorial for Heather Heyer, the local paralegal who was killed when a car crashed into a crowd of counter-protestors Saturday afternoon. Friends and family are looking back on her life and thinking of how they’ll go on without her.
In spite of her grief, Heather Heyer’s mother says she feels sorry for the man who killed her daughter – a man who will someday know he did a terrible thing.
“And I’m sorry for the pain he will go through when he sees that. I’m sorry for the pain he’s putting mother through right now.”
Speaking to CNN, Susan Bro also had a direct message for James Fields.
“This wasn’t a video game, Buddy. This was real people, okay? There are real consequences for what you did, and I’m sorry you chose to do that. You have ruined your life, and you’ve disturbed mine, but you took my child from me, and I’m going to be the voice that she can no longer be. So you gave us a national platform, and maybe I should thank you for that, but I can’t. I would rather have my child.”
At the Miller Law Firm where Heyer worked as a paralegal, Victoria Jackson is already missing her.
“I would hear her voice every morning: ‘Good morning girl!’ and I’m not going to hear that anymore.”
Another co-worker, Courtney Commander, says Heyer was her best friend – a vivacious 32-year-old who feared confronting white supremacists but felt strongly that she had to do that.
“She confronted people to their face so peacefully and so intelligently, and they didn’t even have an explanation for her as to why they were even out there. Oh man! I just feel so bad.” "
Those who knew and loved Heyer will join people who never met her but, nevertheless, feel grateful for her sacrifice at an 11 a.m. memorial in Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater. Her family asks mourners to wear something purple, Heather’s favorite color.