Child 6th Fatality In US Christmas Parade Attack
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
(Worthy News) – An 8-year-old boy became the sixth person to die after a car plowed into Sunday’s Christmas parade in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, his family said.
Five adults were also killed and more than 60 injured when the sports utility vehicle driver hit musicians, dancers, and onlookers during the annual march in Waukesha.
Suspect Darrell E. Brooks, 39, appeared in court on Tuesday as prosecutors formally charged him with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
Prosecutors said they expected to file a sixth homicide charge after the death Tuesday of Jackson Sparks, the boy who had been in critical condition after the attack.
A court commissioner set Brooks’s bail at $5 million. The suspect appeared to weep as prosecutors explained the charges.
“There are no words to describe the risk that this defendant presents to our community,” prosecutor Susan Opper told Waukesha County Court Commissioner Kevin Costello in court.
FLIGHT RISK
“Not only flight risk but the dangerousness that he presents, his history of violence and the allegations in this complaint where it is stated plainly that on several occasions he was told to stop by police officers,” she said. “They risked their safety to try and step in front of the car to stop him.”
Brooks, who was free because of an “inappropriately low” bail in an unrelated case, now faces little chance of making raising the bail money, prosecutors hope.
If convicted, he will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars. Each homicide count carries a potential life sentence without parole, as Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.
Those killed ranged in age from 8 to 81. The youngest victim Jackson and his 12-year-old brother, Tucker, were two of 18 children admitted to Wisconsin Children’s Hospital on Sunday following the attack.
Jackson had brain surgery that evening. Tucker, who sustained road rash and a fractured skull, will be discharged from the hospital, officials said.
A cousin of the siblings, Alyssa Albro, wrote that the family would continue “to heal and mourn the tremendous loss of their sweet little boy who is now under the care of Jesus.”
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