The Waukesha Christmas Parade Attack

Brooks drove a red 2010 Ford Escape SUV through the Waukesha Christmas Parade at approximately 40 miles per hour. Investigators determined he moved in a deliberate zig-zag pattern designed to strike as many people as possible. He did not brake at any point during the attack. The rampage lasted approximately one to two minutes along the parade route.

The same vehicle had been used in the November 2, 2021 domestic violence incident three weeks earlier when Brooks ran over the mother of his children. It was recovered at the scene following the attack.

Six of the 68 people struck by the vehicle died. The victims were indiscriminate in terms of age and identity; they included an 8-year-old child marching with a baseball team, a middle-aged woman walking with a bank group, and four adults connected to the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies performance group. Sixty-two additional people were injured.

The attack occurred at a densely crowded public parade, where participants were moving in an organized procession and had no means to detect or evade an incoming vehicle until it was upon them.

The parade was live-streamed at the time of the attack and captured on video from multiple angles by attendees. This provided extensive documentary evidence of the attack itself, the vehicle's movement pattern, and the immediate aftermath. The video evidence was central to the prosecution's case.

The Ford Escape SUV was recovered at the scene with Brooks having fled on foot. Physical evidence from the vehicle, combined with eyewitness accounts and surveillance footage, established Brooks as the driver beyond dispute.

Brooks had an extensive prior criminal record at the time of the attack, including prior sex crime charges, domestic violence incidents, and prior convictions. He had been released on $1,000 bail just two days before the attack despite pending charges for running over the mother of his children with the same vehicle used in the parade attack.

Prosecutors later acknowledged publicly that the bail amount was inappropriately low. The release on minimal bail in a serious domestic violence case involving vehicle assault became a central point of scrutiny in the case's aftermath.