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The crime scene around the Christmas parade was cordoned off on a large scale
Photo: CHENEY ORR / REUTERS
The man who drove a car into a Christmas parade in the US state of Wisconsin and killed five people has been charged with five murders. Waukesha City Police Chief Dan Thompson identified the detainee as 39-year-old Darrell Brooks. "There is no evidence that it is a terrorist incident." He also emphasized that the investigators were convinced that the suspect acted alone. Thompson said the suspect had recently been involved in a domestic dispute. There is no evidence that the act had a terrorist background. Thompson did not provide any more specific information.
The man raced in a red SUV in a Christmas parade in the city of Waukesha, Greater Milwaukee, on Sunday.
According to the police, the fatalities were between the ages of 52 and 81.
More than 48 people were injured, many of them children.
The alleged perpetrator was known to the police
Shortly after the incident, the police seized the alleged crime vehicle and arrested the suspect.
According to court documents, the 39-year-old from Milwaukee has come into conflict with the law over the years.
He was charged with endangering others, violating gun laws and a case of domestic violence.
Brooks is known as a rapper under the pseudonym MathBoi Fly.
A YouTube page featured a video, now removed, in which he raps in front of a red Ford SUV similar to the one at the parade.
Several children seriously injured
A children's hospital in Milwaukee announced on Monday that a total of 18 children aged 3 to 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 were 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 were in intensive care, six of them in critical condition.
The governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers, expressed his dismay in a tweet and spoke of a "senseless act".
US President Joe Biden said in the White House that five families in Waukesha mourned their loved ones after the "tragedy".
"A whole community is trying to cope with a terrible act of violence," said Biden.
He and his wife, First Lady Jill Biden, and presumably the whole country, prayed for victims, injured and loved ones.
For the Waukesha Christmas Parade, people in the center of town lined both sides of the street on Sunday afternoon.
The event in the suburb of the city of Milwaukee attracts dance groups, high school bands, politicians and numerous spectators every year.
Last year it was canceled due to the pandemic.
kim / dpa / AFP / AP
