One man Brennan Gilmore suddenly heard the vehicle accelerating right in front of him before he saw it. The driver of the car then sped downhill to Gilmore’s before he then paused, then accelerated striking some people in a brief moment. The attack that was executed by a white supremacist based in Charlottesville in Virginia on August 12th last year saw the loss of Heather Heyer’s life and also injured 19 other pedestrians. Brennan Gilmore then immediately interpreted that the incident wasn’t an accident. Earlier in the day, Gilmore had been taking part in counter-protests against the white supremacist that were reported to have turned out in thousands in Charlottesville. They had come out to ostensibly protest against the termination of the Confederate statues that are scattered in the city.
Gilmore was brought up near Charlottesville and later returned when he completed fifteen years with the United States Foreign Service. Gilmore served in the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone. Gilmore explained that as soon as he went downtown Charlottesville, the city had been entirely transformed. He immediately recalled the events that took place on 12th August 2017. He felt the adverse effects that he was feeling before. He thought that such negativity was only felt in places filled with civil unrest like in Africa. He felt very strange to feel the same in Charlottesville.
This triggered something in him, and so he decided to document and take pictures so that he could try to figure out what was going on in the city. It was crystal clear to him that the city was chaotic and that it was never going to end well. As the vehicle sped past him, Gilmore was fully prepared and was ready to start filming. The display of the event was heartbreaking, and the sound of the vehicle and the people crying for help was horrifying. It was indeed a terrible moment as hell had broken loose. People were lying on the ground motionless as others growled and rolled around because of the injuries that had been inflicted on them by the speeding car. Bodies were all over, screaming and crying. To make matters worse, a woman even collapsed in front of Gilmore. Suddenly, it occurred to him that he had been filming the whole event. He realized that he had been capturing every moment of the scene. It crossed his mind that he needed to share the clip with the police officers.
