It was supposed to be a merry Christmas parade. The event ended in chaos and death …
Waukesha, Wisconsin State – A red Ford SUV sped at high speed on Sunday at 5 p.m. (local time) in the traditional parade in the small town of Waukesha, a suburb of the city of Milwaukee in the US state of Wisconsin, where parents and children cheered the passing dance groups.
Five people died. 40 others were injured, some seriously – including 18 children!
US rapper MathBoi Fly (real name Darrell Brooks, 39) is said to have been behind the wheel of the amok car. Police arrested the musician, who had a criminal record of assault, at his home in Milwaukee shortly after the crime.
32 kilometers west of the crime scene, the investigators found the red Ford Escape, with which the attack is said to have been carried out. The same car the rapper poses in front of in one of his music videos! The car is registered for an elderly lady who lives on the same street as Brooks.
The scene of the crime the next morning: abandoned strollers and clothes are on the streetPhoto: GETTY IMAGES / AFP
The motive for the crime: unclear. The musician is said to have had violent fantasies against whites on a number of occasions and threatened to beat up white people on the Internet. According to media reports, he is said to belong to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Was the death driver on the run?
The US broadcaster CNN and NBC reported on Monday, citing investigators, that there are no known links between the arrested person and terrorism.
According to the US media, there is much more evidence that the driver was on the run after another incident. The transmitter NBC reports that it may have been a fight with a knife.
Six children operated on that evening
A children’s hospital in Milwaukee announced on Monday that a total of 18 children between the ages of three and 16 had been admitted there. The injuries ranged from abrasions and broken bones to severe head injuries.
Six of the young patients were operated on on Sunday evening. Two children could already be released on Sunday evening, the remaining 16 are still being treated. US media, including the regional branch of the broadcaster Fox News, reported, citing the clinic’s doctors, that ten children are in intensive care, six of them in critical condition.
Many families with children had attended the parade. Video clips that spread on social media featured chaotic and disturbing scenes.
▶ ︎ From various perspectives, an off-road vehicle was filmed at different times, which first rushed past participants in the parade, rammed and ran over various people in the street and finally broke through road barriers and raced away. The video recordings show people screaming and running. In one scene the car barely races past a child dancing in the street.
The governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, expressed his dismay in a tweet and spoke of a “pointless act”. The White House is monitoring the situation in Waukesha and expressing its condolences to those affected, US media reported. President Joe Biden had been briefed on the situation.