Self-avowed white nationalist Christopher Cantwell — featured in VICE News’ segment on the white supremacist violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, earlier this month — reportedly plans to turn himself in to authorities and face felony charges in connection with those events.University of Virginia campus police have two warrants out for Cantwell’s arrest: one for malicious bodily injury with a “caustic substance,” explosive or fire; the other containing two counts of illegal use of tear gas. White supremacists held a torchlit march through UVA campus on Friday, Aug. 11, one day before the deadly “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville. Cantwell, 36, from Keene, New Hampshire, was among the featured attendees listed in online fliers promoting the event.Each charge linked to the march carries a minimum sentence of five years in jail.Cantwell told the Associated Press Tuesday that he would likely turn himself in sometime “in the next 24 hours,” and would do so in “the most appropriate and safe manner possible.” He added that he was looking forward to his day in court.UVA campus police did not respond to VICE News’ request for comment.Last week, Cantwell posted a video on YouTube where he’s seemingly on the edge of tears saying he was aware that he was wanted and had asked New Hampshire police for advice. UVA police have divulged specific details about the incident that Cantwell is facing charges for, but he’s admitted to other news outlets that the warrant may be connected to his use of pepper spray against a man, likely a counterprotester. He’s insisted, however, that he was acting in self-defense, telling AP that his “only other option was knocking out his teeth.”“I think it’s obvious that I acted in self-defense,” Cantwell told VICE News last week. “I’ll beat the case if there is any justice.”In the VICE News segment on Charlottesville, Cantwell is seen calling for an “ethno-state” and says he thinks the death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was killed when an alleged neo-Nazi rammed his vehicle into a crowd of counterprotesters, was justified. “I think that a lot more people are going to die before we’re done here,” Cantwell says.
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