On November 21, 2021, the 58th annual Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin took place in a suburb right outside of Milwaukee. As the parade was occuring, a red SUV drove full speed right through the parade and roughly injured over 40 people and killed 6. City officials issued a statement with the confirmed death toll. 

“This was a terrible situation and it shouldn’t have happened,” says Sophia Guerrero (11). 

The person who was driving the red SUV was identified as a 39 year old man that goes by the name Darrell Brooks. After the incident, there was a press conference with Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson. Thompson revealed that Brooks was in some domestic disturbance before driving his car into the parade. Officials believe that Brooks acted alone, and the Police Chief added that there is no evidence correlating the attack to a terrorist incident. 

Brooks is being faced with five counts of first degree intentional homicide, and there is a chance that he will be charged with more as the case unravels. Brooks has an open court case tied to domestic violence and has been charged 3  times for recklessly endangering the safety of others. His bail so far has been set to 5 million dollars. 

“Today our community faced horror and tragedy in what should have been a community celebration. I’m deeply saddened to know that so many in our community went to a parade but ended up dealing with injury and heartache,” says Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reily.

A pediatric hospital admitted 15 people not knowing what  the condition of what has occured. The whole town of Waukesha was able to raise up to 1 million dollars towards the families that lost family members. Out of all the people that got injured, only two were children. It was revealed the two were extremely injured and in hospitality.  

“Kathy and I are praying for Waukesha tonight and all the kids, families, and community members affected by this senseless act. I’m grateful for the first responders and folks who acted quickly to help, and we are in contract with local partners as we await more information,” says Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers. 

In other news,  there was a trending video going around social media networks revealing an SUV revealing on twitter, facebook, and tiktok, that shows the SUV just running over a team of tall flags that was performing. The Segerstrom high school’s Christmas parade is coming up this December 11, which can cause many students and parents to worry. These recent car crashes can possibly affect Christmas parades all over the United States.