Within hours of James Alex Fields Jr. staging an act of terror that killed one and injured 19 at the "Unite The Right" rally in Charlottesville, VA, an AP news reporter was able to locate his mother in Toledo, Ohio, where she was presented with the news about her son.
A wheelchair stricken Samantha Bloom says she was in the middle of feeding Fields Jr.'s cat when AP showed up. Bloom claimed to have had no idea about what was going down in Charlottesville on Saturday night, August 12, and although she admitted to having been made aware that Fields Jr. was out at a protest in Virginia, she claimed to stay out of his business as it pertains to politics and wasn't sure exactly what the rally was about. "Like I said, I don't really talk to him about his political views," said Bloom. "He just... so I don't really understand what the rally was about or anything, so... I just know there was... he did mention it was 'albright'? What is it? Al--?" she said.
While Bloom had been informed that Fields Jr. was responsible for murder, no sense of urgency about the matter could be read from her facial expressions. After being corrected that he had been at a rally in support of the alt-right, a group the reporter associated with white supremacy, Bloom cut in to state that she wasn't aware it had anything to do with a white supremacist ideology, but instead with support for President Trump. "Trump's not a white supremacist," Bloom followed. She then went on to speak from a place of denial in regards to her son's involvement in the heinous attack, stating "He had an African-American friend."
