Mourners and clergy pray outside the memorial service for Heather Heyer, who was killed during a white nationalist rally, on Aug. 16 in Charlottesville, Va. | Evan Vucci/AP Heather Heyer remembered at Charlottesville memorial

Family and friends gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Wednesday to remember Heather Heyer, the woman killed in a car attack at the white supremacist rally there last weekend, and called on others to emulate her commitment to fighting for equality.

Virginia officials including Gov. Terry McAuliffe and Sen. Tim Kaine attended the memorial service at Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, where white supremacists and neo-Nazis gathered on Saturday for a rally that turned violent.


Heyer, 32, was killed and 19 were injured when a car plowed into a crowd of counterprotesters.

In remarks at the service, friends and family described Heyer as compassionate and committed to promoting equality and social justice. Heyer’s mother, Susan Bro, was met with a standing ovation when she declared that her daughter’s death was “just the beginning of Heather’s legacy.”

“I think the reason that what happened to Heather has struck a chord is because we know that what she did is achievable,” Bro said of Heyer’s commitment to fighting racism. “We don’t all have to die. We don’t all have to sacrifice our lives.”

“They tried to kill my daughter to shut her up,” she went on. “But guess what? You just magnified her.”

Bro, describing Heyer as “a firm believer in whatever she believed,” told people at the service to “find that spark of conviction” and “find in ourselves that action” her daughter had.

“I’d rather have my child, but by golly, if I’ve got to give her up, we’re going to make it count,” she said.

Heyer’s father, Mark, also called for unity and said his daughter was a model for loving and inclusiveness.

“We just need to stop all this stuff and forgive each other,” Mark Heyer said. “I came here today and I was overwhelmed — I was overwhelmed at the rainbow of colors in this room.”

“That’s how Heather was,” he went on. “It didn’t matter who you were or where you were from. She loved you, and that was it. You were stuck. So for that I’m truly proud of my daughter.”

President Donald Trump, who has been widely criticized for his response to the attack, acknowledged the memorial service and paid his respects to Heyer in a statement Wednesday on Twitter.

“Memorial service today for beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman,” Trump said. “She will be long remembered by all!”

On Tuesday, Trump said he had not reached out to Heyer’s family but that he planned to.

At a news conference at Trump Tower in New York, Trump again blamed “both sides” for the violence, referring to the counterprotesters as the “alt-left,” and suggested that the white supremacist side also had some “fine people.”

The comments echoed his initial response to the violence on Saturday, and they were again widely panned by Democrats, as well as some Republicans, as failing to adequately condemn white supremacists and other hate groups.