Verified GoFundMe accounts have raised upwards of $1.3 million for victims and their families in the aftermath of the Waukesha Christmas Parade on Sunday where Darrell E. Brooks Jr. allegedly plowed an SUV through the parade route, killing six and injuring over forty more.
As of 2:25 p.m. on Wednesday, some $1,355,141 was raised in total between 22 different verified GoFundMe accounts. The accounts aim to raise donations for hospital expenses, funeral costs, and more.
Brooks, 39, was arrested for allegedly carrying out Sunday’s mayhem and on Tuesday was charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, Breitbart News reported.
Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper announced she intends to file an additional charge of intentional homicide following the death of 8-year-old Jackson Sparks, who, on Tuesday, succumbed to injuries he sustained at Sunday’s parade, according to UPI.
The deceased victims from the Christmas Parade attack include:
1.) Wilhelm Hospel, age 81
2.) Virginia “Ginny” Sorenson, age 79
3.) LeAnna Owen, age 71
4.) Tamara Durand, age 52
5.) Jane Kulich, age 52
6.) Jackson Sparks, age 8
Judge Kevin Costello set Brooks’s bail at $5 million, stating the defendant is a flight risk as he has repeatedly broken laws and ignored court orders in the past, according to UPI.
“I have not seen anything like this in my very long career,” Costello stated.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that earlier this month, Brooks was charged with attempting to run a woman over and was released from custody on a $1000 bond:
Darrell Brooks Jr., the man suspected of being the driver, has been charged three times in less than two years with recklessly endangering the safety of others, most recently on Nov. 5 as part of a domestic abuse incident for which he was also charged with resisting or obstructing an officer. In the case this month, a woman told police Brooks purposefully ran her “over with his vehicle” while she was walking through a gas station parking lot after he had followed her there after a fight, according to the criminal complaint. The woman was hospitalized for her injuries, court records show.
Brooks posted $1,000 bond on Nov. 11 in the most recent incident and was released from Milwaukee County Jail on Nov. 16, according to the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office. He also was charged in July 2020 with two felony counts of second-degree recklessly endangering the safety of others using a dangerous weapon.
A clear motive for Brooks’s alleged rampage has not yet come to light, but police have conveyed that the attack was “intentional.”