Former classmate said Charlottesville suspect 'would proclaim himself as a Nazi'

The man accused of driving a car into a crowd of people protesting a white supremacist rally Saturday in Charlottesville “would proclaim himself as a Nazi,” one of his former classmates said. James Alex Fields Jr., 20, is charged with second-degree murder, malicious wounding and failure to stop in an accident that resulted in death. Heather Heyer, 32, was killed; 19 others were hurt. Fields, of Maumee, Ohio, used to live in the Florence area. Marisa, 20 -- who preferred we did not use her last name -- said she and Fields graduated from Randall K. Cooper High School in Union, Kentucky. Marisa said she took German classes with Fields, and she went to Europe with him and about two dozen other students in 2015. “He would proclaim himself as a Nazi … it was not a secret,” she said. Derek Weimer, who taught two history courses to Fields Cooper High School, said he was a quiet, respectful student but had some "radical ideas on race." "He was very infatuated with the Nazis, with Adolf Hitler," Weimer said. "He also had a huge military history, especially with German military history and World War II. But, he was pretty infatuated with that stuff." James Alex Fields Jr. Marisa said she was shocked to find out someone she knew could be involved with the attack.