Christmas Parade Driver Tried to Inflict Maximum Carnage, Prosecutors Say

Not long after a child became the sixth person to die in connection with the catastrophic attack on a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Tuesday, prosecutors painted a picture of the sole suspect as driven by a twisted thirst for blood.

According to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday, 39-year-old Darrell Brooks, who was arrested in the hours after the parade turned into a bloodbath, ignored demands to stop his car that night. He also seemed to weave around vehicles in an attempt to inflict the most damage possible, prosecutors said.

“As I continued to watch the SUV, it continued to drive in a zig-zag motion. It was like the SUV was trying to avoid vehicles, not people,” one witness who was at the 58th annual Christmas parade told police, according to the complaint filed Tuesday. “There was no attempt made by the vehicle to stop, much less slow down.”

Brooks is now facing five counts of intentional homicide after prosecutors say he plowed his red SUV through barricades and into the parade crowd, killing six people and injuring at least 60 more in the process. Authorities said Monday that the deadly incident occurred just minutes after Brooks, a sex offender who recently posted bail in another case, was involved “in a domestic disturbance.”

It was unclear if Brooks had an attorney on Tuesday, and a lawyer who previously represented him in the alleged offenses for which he was out on bail at the time of the attack said he was not representing him in the parade incident.

The five previously-confirmed fatalities have been identified as Virginia Sorenson, 79; LeAnna Owen, 71; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; and Wilhelm Hospel, 81. The Waukesha County Medical Examiner’s office concluded that all five victims sustained multiple blunt force injuries.

And during a Tuesday bond hearing, County District Attorney Susan L. Opper revealed that a child died on Tuesday from injures sustained in the attack but did not provide any additional details. Prosecutors said they now intend to file a sixth count of intentional homicide this week.

Judge Kevin Costello ultimately agreed with the prosecution’s request to set Brooks’ bail at $5 million in cash.