Armed man slashes tarp on Charlottesville monument and says Heather Heyer died 'playing in traffic'

An armed man wearing a tie-dye T-shirt tried to slash away the black drape placed over a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville on Wednesday.

As onlookers tried to dissuade him, the man slashed at the black tarp covering the statue, but was only able to cut at about shoulder height.

"People have died!" a woman said angrily. "Does that mean nothing to you?"

Witnesses report that the man was carrying a gun.

The man called covering the statue a "desecration" and said that anti-racist protester Heather Heyer was killed because she was "playing in traffic."