Waukesha Christmas parade: Jury finds Darrell Brooks guilty of all charges

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Jurors found Darrell Brooks guilty of homicide and other charges after he drove an SUV through the crowd gathered for the 2021 Christmas parade in Waukesha, killing six people and injuring dozens more.

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Brooks faced 76 charges, including six counts each of first-degree intentional homicide and hit-and-run. Jurors found him guilty of all charges.

Update 2:55 p.m. EDT Oct. 26: Family members of those killed and injured in the hit-and-run at the Waukesha Christmas parade last year thanked prosecutors and investigators after a jury found Brooks guilty on all 76 charges against him.

“We’ve been praying for this day a long time,” said Marshall Sorenson, whose mother, Virginia Sorenson, died in the attack last year. “This morning, my 5-year-old daughter came up to me and handed me this necklace with my mom’s ashes in it, and she told me to take our mom with us for the sentencing. So, she was with us today.”

District Attorney Sue Opper said that with the verdict handed down Wednesday, prosecutors were “satisfied that this defendant has been held accountable for his actions.”

“He now faces imprisonment of up to six consecutive life sentences plus 859 years of confinement,” she said. “There is much healing ahead for the victims and for our community, but we hope today’s result is a step further on that path.”

Update 12:20 p.m. EDT Oct. 26: Brooks bowed his head with his hands clasped in front of him as he listened to Waukesha County Circuit Judge Jennifer Dorow read the jury’s verdicts against him.

Jurors found Brooks guilty of six counts each of first-degree intentional homicide and hit-and-run, one count for each person killed in the Nov. 21, 2021, Waukesha Christmas parade. They also found him guilty on several counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, two counts of bail jumping and one count of battery.

Update 11:55 a.m. EDT Oct. 26: Jurors found Brooks guilty of six counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the six people killed during the Nov. 21, 2021, Christmas parade in Waukesha.

Brooks also faces dozens of other charges, including several counts of first-degree reckless endangering safety.

Original report: Brooks, 40, pleaded not guilty to dozens of charges in February, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide. Prosecutors said he intentionally drove into people gathered for the Christmas parade last year at about 30 mph, striking nearly 70 people, according to CNN. Brooks, who represented himself in court, told jurors that had “never heard of someone intentionally trying to hurt someone while attempting to blow their horn ... while attempting to alert people of their presence,” WITI reported.

Thousands of people gathered in downtown Waukesha on the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2021, to watch the city’s Christmas parade. Authorities said Brooks drove an SUV through the crowd and into the parade procession, killing five people and injuring 62 others.

Two days later, police said a sixth person — identified as 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, according to WDJT-TV — also died of their injuries.

Police identified the five other people slain in the attack as 81-year-old Wilhelm Hospel, 79-year-old Virginia Sorenson, 71-year-old LeAnna Owen, 52-year-old Tamara Durand and 52-year-old Jane Kulich.

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Photos: 5 dead, dozens hurt after SUV plows into Wisconsin holiday parade Police canvass the streets in downtown Waukesha, Wis., after a vehicle plowed into a Christmas parade Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

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