Darrell Brooks trial: Waukesha parade attack timeline

Darrell Brooks is a name many people never heard before November 2021. On trial starting Monday, Oct. 3 for the Waukesha Christmas parade attack, FOX6 News takes a look back at the events that led to the homicide trial.

On Nov. 21, 2021 at 4 p.m., the Waukesha Christmas Parade began, with families lining the route starting at the corner of Pleasant and East Main. The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, marching bands and others marched to the cheers of the crowd.

 

About 30 minutes after the parade started, calls came in about something happening near Frame Park. A fight was reported near Hartwell and White Rock.

Less than a minute later, prosecutors say Brooks' maroon Ford Escape careened through the parade route. 

"Red Escape. Black male. I couldn't stop it," police said over the radio. "He’s going westbound, blowing his horn. He's running over people."

(Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

Soon, at Main and Barstow and Main and Gaspar, there were calls for ambulances.

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As the red SUV approached West Main and Wisconsin, the driver running over people, witnesses said it appeared to be zig-zagging, avoiding cars but not people.

Near Main and Wisconsin, the SUV had left the parade route, but the damage was done. Six people were killed and dozens injured in minutes. 

The SUV was later found not far away, abandoned in a backyard off Maple.

(Photo by Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)

The driver, whom prosecutors say was Brooks, was found a half mile away, knocking on a door.

Brooks was charged two days later.