The crowds gathered in the Wisconsin city of Waukesha on Sunday afternoon cheered as the Dancing Grannies in their royal blue costumes shook their pompoms and showed off their moves.
t was their first Christmas parade of the season and the first time they had performed here since Covid-19 forced them to cancel last year’s festivities. For some, it would also be the last.
At least four lay motionless on the ground, witnesses said, moments after a red SUV tore down a packed Main Street, sending bodies flying while crushing others.
Footage of the parade, live-streamed for all those who could not make it, captured the carnage, as the car travelled almost a kilometre down the route before breaking through barriers.
It began when the red vehicle approached the rear of a marching band before accelerating and smashing into paraders and spectators. A dance troupe of schoolgirls and children running out to pick up sweets tossed along the parade route were among those mown down indiscriminately.
Corey Montiho, a Waukesha school district board member, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that his daughter’s dance team, made up of girls aged between nine and 15, were hit by the 4x4.
“There were pompoms and shoes and spilt hot chocolate everywhere. I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter. My wife and two daughters were almost hit. I saw bodies flying. I ran down the parade route to find my girls. Addison, my daughter, heard someone yell ‘car’ and ran away. The girls right next to her were hit.
“I was there. It was little kids and families... Evil is real, fight it every chance you get.”
Footage appears to show the driver narrowly missing a young girl dancing in the street before barrelling into a troupe of performers, running over the body of one as he tries to get away.
A police officer then let out shots in the direction of the car to try to stop the driver, named yesterday as 39-year-old Darrell Brooks Jr.
Police managed to take down the Ford Escape’s licence plate and later arrested Brooks at his home address in Milwaukee, 30km from the parade.
In video capturing the aftermath, scores are seen lying in the middle of the road being tended to by fellow parade-goers before the paramedics arrive.
Some say they believed the incident was intentional, while others said they thought it may have been an accident.
Tributes and messages of support quickly poured in for the Dancing Grannies, who many described as the highlight of local parades.
“You make everyone smile and you remind us to never stop doing what you love,” read one of many Facebook posts shared yesterday.
The cheers from the crowd, possibly the last things the Dancing Grannies heard, “certainly brought smiles to their faces and warmed their hearts”, the group said in a statement. “Those who died were extremely passionate Grannies. Their eyes gleamed... joy of being a Grannie. They were the glue that held us together.”