Her passion was real.
The father of the woman mowed down by a crazed white supremacist said his daughter truly believed in fighting for justice.
“She was passionate about what she thought about and felt,” Mark Heyer said of his daughter, Heather, who was killed by James Fields Jr., 20, after he rammed his silver Dodge Challenger into a crowd of counter-protesters on Saturday in Charlottesville, Va.
“For her, it wasn’t just lip service,” Heyer said. “It was real. She was to the point. She told people like she thought. She didn’t mince words with them. “
His daughter, who worked as a paralegal, was passionate about social issues and the 2016 presidential election.
“If you’re not outraged, you’re not paying attention,” she posted on Facebook, quoting a popular political slogan a week after the 2016 presidential election.
On Sunday, her mother, Susan Bro, said she was destined to give her life for fighting against evil.
“She always had a very strong sense of right and wrong, she always, even as a child, was very caught up in what she believed to be fair,” Bro told the Huffington Post through tears.
“Somehow I almost feel that this is what she was born to be, is a focal point for change,” she added. “I’m proud that what she was doing was peaceful, she wasn’t there fighting with people.”
Fields, who stood alongside members of the Vanguard America hate group hours before the attack, has been charged with second-degree murder and other counts.
Heyer was among 20 who were injured in the attack during a counter-protest.
“She was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” her father said.
Felicia Correa, Heyer’s childhood friend, said “she died doing what was right.”
“My heart is broken, but I am forever proud of her,” she added.
A GoFundMe webpage set up for Heyer’s family raised more than $224,000 as of Sunday evening.
“I’m sorry you lived in a country with Trump as president,” wrote Susan Hartman, who donated $10. “He encouraged what happened. Millions mourn your death. Your family can be proud of you for feeling passionately about your beliefs.”
