The violence that occurred today in Charlottesville, Virginia created much conflict in Libertarian circles. Some were calling the actions of the alt-right deplorable, and some were defending them by claiming that Antifa outnumbered the Unite the Right participants, and that they were only defending the aggression from radical leftists.

As happens in such a tragedy, many were looking for someone to point fingers towards in regards to the driver of the Dodge Challenger who ran over the leftist counter-protestors and killed one person. Hours after the event and a photo emerged with the license plate of the car, the internet did what it does best and tracked down who they thought was the criminal.

The above picture quickly began to circulate with comments on how dumb the left was for injuring their own people. It seemed that many in my conservative circles were taking this picture at face value and attempting to point the blame entirely on the leftist protesters (even though at the time, it was not 100% confirmed that it was even a right protester).

Unfortunately, this was not the case. The man pictured does not own the car pictured and was not even in Virginia to commit the crime. Below is a post from the accused:

Frankly, I was shocked and appalled that libertarians need to find a way to criticize the left and place the blame on this event could have led to harming an innocent man. The ideology of reason became as much a part of the mob mentality as the alt-righters and Antifa members who turned Charlottesville into a battleground.

Libertarians have to be better than these far-left and far-right extremists. We cannot fall victim to defending Fascism and white nationalism simply to be anti-left. Libertarianism isn’t an anti-left ideology, it’s a liberty ideology.

Update: More evidence that Mr. VanGheluwe was not the killer.

Update: An Ohio man has been arrested as the suspect of the car killing. Source