(Headline USA) An 8-year-old boy became the sixth person to die Tuesdayafter a violent black supremacist drove his SUV into a suburban Milwaukee Christmas parade.
According to a GoFundMe page set up for the family of Jackson Sparks, both he and his 12-year-old brother, Tucker, were injured in the massacre.
“The entire family is devastated and their parents, Aaron and Sheri, are at the bedsides of their children who are both at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin,” wrote the boys’ cousin, Alyssa Albro, in a post Monday.
“Tucker, is recovering, but sustained road rash and a fractured skull. They are closely monitoring his head and spine. He is stable at this time,” she said. “Jackson, age 8, underwent brain surgery on Sunday evening.”
At the time of the post, the family was still hoping for a miracle, but sadly he later succumbed to his injuries.
As of Wednesday morning, more than 7,300 people had donated more than $318,000 to help the family with their expenses.
Meanwhile, Darrell Brooks Jr., 39, was charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, a charge that carries a mandatory life sentence if convicted.
A criminal complaint alleged that he steered side-to-side with the intent of striking marchers and spectators.
Brooks rocked back and forth in his seat and cried throughout his court hearing on Tuesday, his attorney’s arm on his back, as the charges against him were detailed. His bail was set at $5 million, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for Jan. 14.
“The nature of this offense is shocking,” said Waukesha Court Commissioner Kevin Costello.
Additional charges related to the sixth death and the more than 60 people injured will be coming later this week or next, said Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper.
he criminal complaint said 62 people were injured, up from the 48 previously announced by police.
Brooks is accused of speeding away from police and entering the Waukesha Christmas parade on Sunday night, refusing to stop even as an officer banged on the hood of his SUV. Another officer fired three shots into the vehicle, but it did not stop.
Five people ranging in age from 52 to 81 were pronounced dead within hours. All were affiliated with a performance troupe known as the Dancing Grannies.
The city’s livestream video and bystander video captured the chaotic scene when an SUV sped along the parade route and then into the crowd. Several of those injured remain in critical condition.
According to the criminal complaint, witnesses told police that the vehicle “appeared to be intentionally moving side to side,” with no attempt to slow down or stop as it struck multiple people and sent bodies and objects flying.
Brooks ignored several attempts to stop him, according to the criminal complaint.
A detective—wearing police insignia and a neon orange safety vest—stepped in front of Brooks’ vehicle and pounded on the hood, shouting “Stop,” several times but Brooks drove past him, according to the complaint.
A uniformed police officer who saw Brooks’ SUV traveling toward the parade route also tried to get his attention, yelling “Stop, stop the vehicle” several times but was ignored, according to the complaint. The officer “observed the driver looking straight ahead, directly at him, and it appeared he had no emotion on his face,” the complaint said.
Brooks braked at one point, but instead of turning away from the parade route, he turned into the crowd and appeared to rapidly accelerate, the complaint said.
Another police officer shot at the vehicle, striking it three times as it entered the parade route. Brooks was not hit by the bullets, the Waukesha police chief said Monday.
The complaint said one witness who spoke with police said the SUV “continued to drive in a zig zag motion. It was like the SUV was trying to avoid vehicles, not people. There was no attempt made by the vehicle to stop, much less slow down.”
Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said Brooks was leaving the scene of a domestic dispute that had taken place just minutes earlier when he drove into the parade route.
He had been free on $1,000 bail for a case in Milwaukee County earlier in November in which he’s accused of intentionally striking a woman with his car. Prosecutors said they’re investigating their bail recommendation in that case, calling it inappropriately low.
Brooks has been charged with crimes more than a dozen times since 1999, mostly in Wisconsin but also in Georgia and Nevada, and had two outstanding cases against him at the time of the parade disaster. That included resisting or obstructing an officer, reckless endangering, disorderly conduct, bail jumping and battery for the Nov. 2 incident.
Thompson said that there was no evidence the bloodshed Sunday was an organized terrorist attack or that Brooks knew anyone in the parade. Brooks acted alone, the chief said.
However, members of the group Black Lives Matter hinted on Monday that the event might have been linked with the recent acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse in nearby Kenosha.
NBC News published doorbell camera footage that appeared to capture Brooks’ arrest. It showed Brooks, shivering in just a T-shirt, knocking on a homeowner’s door and asking for help calling for a ride. Moments later, police surrounded the house and shouted, “Hands up!” Brooks, standing on the porch, held up his hands and said, “Whoa whoa whoa!”
Hundreds gathered at a downtown park Monday night in Waukesha, Wisconsin, for a candlelight vigil in honor of those lost and hurt. A pair of clergy solemnly read the names of those who died. Volunteers handed out sandwiches, hot chocolate and candles at the vigil, which was attended by interfaith leaders and elected officials.
“We are parents. We are neighbors. We are hurting. We are angry. We are sad. We are confused. We are thankful. We are all in this together. We are Waukesha Strong,” said a tearful Amanda Medina Roddy with the Waukesha school district.
Mayor Shawn Reilly described the parade as a “Norman Rockwell-type” event that “became a nightmare.”
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Milwaukee’s ‘Dancing Grannies’ Devastated by Parade Massacre
(Headline USA) The short skirts. The sparkly pompoms. The sassy hip sways. The grandchildren.
They are the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a marching, dancing holiday fixture in Wisconsin for nearly 40 years, and a joyful twist on America’s expectations that parades are supposed to feature mainly school-age dance troupes.
But tragedy struck the group when, as they marched down yet another Main Street on Sunday, holiday music blaring around them, three grandmothers were killed by a violent black supremacist with a long rap sheet who had been released only two days prior by Milwaukee’s radical, George Soros-backed district attorney.
“Our group was doing what they loved, performing in front of crowds in a parade,” the group said in a statement Monday morning. “Putting smiles on faces of all ages, filling them with joy and happiness.”
Darrell Brooks Jr., the alleged killer, has since been taken into custody after killing six and injuring more than 60 people. Police said he had left the scene of a domestic dispute and didn’t appear to know anyone in the parade when he drove into the route.
Not even an hour earlier, the Grannies had called out to fans on their Facebook page.
“Waukesha here we come!!!” the post shouted. “The Grannies are kicking off their holiday parades.”
The Dancing Grannies grew out of an exercise class in 1984, with dozens of women, most ranging in age from their mid-50s to mid-70s, cycling in and out of the group over the years. They have only one requirement: You need to be a grandmother.
Police identified those killed as Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen, 71; Tamara Durand, 52; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81. The three women were members of the Grannies, and Hospel reportedly helped the troupe with their shows.
Durand was doing her first show with the Grannies on Sunday, said her husband, Dave Durand, who was not at the parade. She’d seen them perform only once before deciding to join—simply because she found joy in dancing.
“She basically danced her way through life,” he said of his wife of eight years, a hospice chaplain and former high school and college cheerleader who was “super excited” for her first performance.
“She was totally energetic and was her happiest when she was dancing,” he said.
Tamara Durand was a mother of three with one grandchild. She babysat her grandson so her daughter could finish nursing school, and volunteered at hospitals and hospices.
“She was an Energizer Bunny,” who ran every morning no matter the weather, Dave Durand said. And she could never pass up sweets, eating “more sugar than a sugar factory.”
Jane Kulich, 52, also died. Local news reports said she worked for a local branch of Citizens Bank, which issued a statement saying an employee “was walking with our parade float” when she was struck and killed. The bank did not identify the employee.
Sorenson, a dance lover who had to give up the hobby years ago after surgery, was the group’s longtime choreographer.
“It was like I lost a best friend” when she had to stop dancing, she told WDJT, the Milwaukee CBS affiliate, in an August story about the group. The Grannies brought back that joy. “I love it, and I love the ladies.”
David Sorenson, her husband of nearly 60 years, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about how she loved working with the Grannies.
“What did she like about it? Everything,” Sorenson said. “She liked the instructing. She liked the dancing and the camaraderie of the women. She liked to perform.”
And, he said: “She taught me to do the cancan.”
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