The Waukesha Christmas parade car killer Darrel E. Brooks has been charged with a sixth count of first-degree intentional homicide today.
The Waukesha ‘car killer’ who plowed through the community’s annual Christmas parade with his SUV has been charged with a sixth count of first-degree intentional homicide Monday six days after a sixth victim, Jackson Sparks, 8, died from his injuries.
The 39-year-old had the first five charges brought against him on November 23 after he killed Virginia Sorenson, 79, LeAnna Owen, 71, Tamara Durand, 52, Jane Kulich, 52, and Wilhelm Hospel, 81.
In addition to killing the above six, Brooks injured over 60 people when he slammed his SUV into the crowd last Sunday.
Seven children are still recovering in the hospital, three of which are in serious condition, Children’s Hospital Wisconsin confirmed on social media today.
Jackson, the latest victim to die, was a third-grade student at Clarendon Avenue Elementary School in Mukwonago and a member of LifePoint Church, according to his obituary.
‘Jackson loved baseball and played for the Waukesha Blazers. When not playing baseball, or slam-dunking basketballs throughout the house, Jackson enjoyed fishing, catching frogs, and playing with his brother Tucker and his dog Qi’ra,’ his obituary reads.
Brooks, who faces life in prison if convicted, is currently being held on $5 million bail in jail in Wisconsin. The Christmas parade tragedy is the latest in a series of violent crimes he is tied to going back 22 years and spanning across numerous states.
Brooks, who is also a registered sex offender, has been arrested more than 15 times in the state of Wisconsin alone for charges including possession of drugs, strangulation, and suffocation, battery, illegally possessing firearms as a convicted felon, and resisting arrest.
The decision to hold him on bail in connection with the parade tragedy sparked outrage after it was revealed he was out on $1,000 bail when he plowed through the crowd.
After spending eight months behind bars between July 2020 and February 2021 for shooting at another vehicle on the road after a fight, Brooks found himself out on bail after a bond previously at $10,000 was dropped to $500 in February.
He was then arrested again, on November 2, in Milwaukee, for hunting down the mother of one of his children at a local hotel. He then followed her down the street with his red Ford SUV – the same vehicle he used in last Sunday’s massacre – and ran her over in the parking lot of a gas station after she refused to get into his car.
Brooks was subsequently arrested and charged with five counts including bail jumping, for having failed to meet the terms of one of his many other sets of bail or probation requirements.
However, on November 11, the culpable criminal once again escaped incarceration by posting bail – this time on a $1,000 cash bond.
By November 19 – two days before the Waukesha attack – he was on the streets again; and by November 21, Brooks was allowed back behind the wheel of his Ford.
