At least 40 people, including 12 children, were taken to six area hospitals after a red SUV drove through barricades and ran people over in a horrific tragedy that occurred at the Waukesha Christmas parade.
That’s according to the City of Waukesha, which also confirmed that at least five people have died in the carnage.
[UPDATE: Read about the man in custody, and his criminal record, here.]
Videos showed the red vehicle ramming into people along the parade route. In a late-night press conference, the police chief said it’s not yet clear how many people died. He confirmed there were fatalities.
Multiple local residents described the horror; giving CPR to injured people, pulling their son to safety, running for safety in stores. Many people heard gunshots, and they initially believed that the suspect(s) were shooting out of the car. It later turned out that a police officer shot at the vehicle in an attempt to stop the rampage.
“An officer did discharge his weapon at the suspect vehicle to try to stop the suspect vehicle,” Police Chief Dan Thompson said. No people were wounded by those shots, he said.
This video captured the red SUV from above. A source says one of two suspects is in custody, but the chief would only say police have a person of interest. The motive is not yet clear. The name is not either. On the scanner police described a suspect as a “black male,” but gave no further details and that account is preliminary. Police found the suspect vehicle, they confirmed.
https://twitter.com/TaylorLumpkinTV/status/1462575035042910212
“Tonight was a traumatic situation for the City of Waukesha,” Shawn Reilly, the mayor, said in a news conference. <a href=”https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?ref=search&v=521226086094025″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>The mayor said:</a> “We experienced a horrible, senseless tragedy. I walked in the parade at the beginning. I saw all of the happy children sitting on the curb…. I can still see the smiling faces.”
The horror unfolded at 4:39 p.m., Thompson said.
He confirmed the red SUV “drove into our Christmas parade…more than 20 individuals were injured…It struck more than 20 individuals. Some were children, and there were some fatalities as a result of this incident.” Where the incident has a “nexus to terrorism” is under investigation.
Thompson said the Waukesha police department has “recovered a suspect vehicle. It’s an ongoing investigation. The victims were transported from the scene via ambulance. Officers transported some of the injured people and took them to the hospital. It’s a very tragic incident. Very chaotic. There are no other threats involved.”
