Chris Pizzello/Associated Press

LeBron James called the events that have unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia, "sad" and questioned the direction of the United States after white nationalists engaged in violent clashes with counter-protestors on Saturday.

According to the New York Times' Sheryl Gay Stolberg and Brian M. Rosenthal, tensions escalated Saturday after white nationalists descended on the campus of the University of Virginia Friday evening for a planned march.

Once a rally was broken up by police, a car reportedly drove through a crowd in downtown Charlottesville and killed a 32-year-old woman.

The Associated Press reported that two others died Saturday after a helicopter crashed near Charlottesville in an incident related to the violent clashes.

"We are closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Va.," President Donald Trump said from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Saturday afternoon, per the New York Times' Glenn Thrush.

"We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides."