Police tape cordons off a street in Waukesha, Wis., after an SUV plowed into a Christmas parade hitting multiple people Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

By Scott Bauer and Mike Householder, AP

A joyous scene of marching bands and children dancing in Santa hats and waving pompoms turned deadly in an instant, as an SUV sped through barricades and into a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40 others.

One video showed a woman screaming, “Oh my God!” repeatedly as a group of young dancers was struck Sunday. A father talked of going “from one crumpled body to the other” in search of his daughter. Members of a “Dancing Grannies” club were among those hit.

The city of Waukesha posted on its social media accounts late Sunday that it could confirm at least five died and more than 40 were injured, while noting that it was still collecting information. The city’s statement also noted that many people took themselves to hospitals. The city did not release any additional information about those who died.

A “person of interest” was in custody, Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson said, but he gave no details about the person or any possible motive. The investigation was ongoing, with assistance from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

“What took place in Waukesha today is sickening, and I have every confidence that those responsible will be brought to justice,” Attorney General Josh Kaul, the state’s top law enforcement officer, tweeted.

The horror was recorded by the city’s livestream and onlookers’ cellphones. One video shows the moment the SUV broke through the barricades and the sound of what appears to be several gunshots. Thompson said a Waukesha police officer fired his gun to try to stop the vehicle. No bystanders were injured by the gunfire, and Thompson said he did not know if the driver was struck by the officer’s bullets.

In this image taken from video an SUV speeds past a young girl and others attending a Christmas parade and continues to drive through the parade, injuring multiple people, Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021, in Waukesha, Wis. (Jesus Ochoa via AP)

Another video shows a young child dancing in the street as the SUV speeds by, just a few feet from her, before it hurtles into parade participants a few hundred feet ahead. One video, of dancers with pompoms, ends with a group of people tending to a girl on the ground.

“There were pompoms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere. I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter,” Corey Montiho, a Waukesha school district board member, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “My wife and two daughters were almost hit. Please pray for everybody. Please pray.”

The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies posted on its Facebook page early Monday that some of its members were among the dead. The group’s profile describes them as a “group of grannies that meet once a week to practice routines for summer and winter parades.”

“Our group was doing what they loved, performing in front of crowds in a parade putting smiles on faces of all ages, filling them with joy and happiness,” the post said.

A broken children’s stroller lays on W. Main St. in downtown Waukesha, Wis., after an SUV drove into a parade of Christmas marchers Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

“Those who died were extremely passionate Grannies. Their eyes gleamed … joy of being a Grannie. They were the glue … held us together.”

A Catholic priest, multiple parishioners and Waukesha Catholic schoolchildren were among those injured, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee spokeswoman Sandra Peterson said.

Chris Germain, co-owner of the Aspire Dance Center studio, had about 70 people in the parade ranging from as young as 2 being pulled in wagons to age 18. Germain, whose 3-year-old daughter was in the parade, said he was driving at the head of their entry when he saw a maroon SUV that “just blazed right past us.” A police officer ran past in chase. Germain said he jumped out of his own SUV and gathered the girls who were with him to safety.

Then he walked forward to see the damage.

“There were small children laying all over the road, there were police officers and EMTs doing CPR on multiple members of the parade,” he said.

Angelito Tenorio, a West Allis alderman who is running for Wisconsin state treasurer, said he was watching the parade with his family when they saw the SUV come speeding into the area.

“Then we heard a loud bang,” Tenorio said. “And after that, we just heard deafening cries and screams from the crowd, from the people at the parade. And people started rushing, running away with tears in their eyes, crying.”

The Waukesha school district canceled classes Monday and said in a notice on its website that extra counselors would be on hand for students and staff. The parade’s list of entries included cheer, dance and band entries associated with district schools.

Waukesha, Wis. police chief Daniel Thompson addresses the media after an SUV drove into a parade of Christmas marchers in the city Sunday, Nov. 21, 2021. (John Hart/Wisconsin State Journal via AP)

Gov. Tony Evers said he and his wife, Kathy, were “praying for Waukesha tonight and all the kids, families, and community members affected by this senseless act.”

President Joe Biden was briefed Sunday night, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Twitter. Assistance is being offered to local officials, she said, and “Our hearts are with the families and the entire community.”

The parade, held each year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, is sponsored by the city’s Chamber of Commerce. This year’s, the 59th, had the theme of “comfort and joy.”

Waukesha is a western suburb of Milwaukee, and about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north of Kenosha, where Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted Friday of charges stemming from the shooting of three men during unrest in that city in August 2020.

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71 COMMENTS

    • I’m just glad the police protected all these nice people, because that’s what the police do. Plus they have the guns, so there’s that.
      /s

        • I am just happy he is not in a bail reform state where he would be out for more job interviews already as it may not be intentional. Sarcasm drips in case it is missed.

    • No Way Some “White Guy” could do something horrible like that. Just No Way.

      If you believe the aforementioned you may be a stupid bigot…No, you are a stupid bigot.

      Some people need to stfu and Pray for the dead and injured, their families of those on scene with the helping hands.

      • White, black, or purple polka dotted, only a hate filled, drug addled, lowlife could have done this.

        I’ll note that there is a lot of Spanish/Mexican being spoken in the videos. Brown people seem to have suffered as well.

    • Hey everyone, you know how the gun community as a whole is trying to let everyone know that we are not a homogeneous group of white, racist dickheads? Well, @gunnygene here isn’t exactly helping with that narrative. That is, unless, gunnygene, you just want to go ahead and just openly let everyone here know that you’re racist, so as to remove all doubt…

  4. Another mass vehicular killing. We need to ban these assault SUVs with their large engines and high capacity fuel tanks. If it saves just one life. sarc off.
    Let’s Go Brandon!

    • we need more intensive background checks for those applying for a license to drive assault vehicles with high capacity gas tanks, and that have fully automatic transmissions and which egines have over 5.56 horsepowers and can hold more than 5 people. BAN ASSAULT RIDES NOW!

      (sarcasm)

  5. Cities will need to consider better barriers to stop vehicles from gaining access. Parade routes could have pneumatic posts installed, to be activated with the passing of each contingent group. A cheaper approach could be installing anchor chains across roads, enough to stop vehicles within a couple of feet.

    • Concertina wire works wonders but I would absolutely support the chain idea as they would be less obviously dystopian and could be decorated to suit the occasion. Locking up criminals with violent tendencies would reduce these attacks even more but that would be somethingist

        • Depending on what anchor chains are being discussed I doubt theft by your typical antifa member will be much of a concern. Could be fun to watch.

  6. All this angst about AR15’s. O’Rourkes foot in mouth disease not withstanding. Who needs guns? Peoples do not need AR’s to take human life. There is a very real problem here. Ya don’t think we are at war? War was brought to us. American lives are being taken. What we have here is not the same thing as the typical violent crime that we have all known was there all of our lives. This is different. While Americans are being blamed for the wrongs done to Americans, we see an ever widening split between two distinct cultures across the entire nation.

    Maybe I’m wrong about all this and it’s just something in the water in Wisconsin and will all correct itself in time (I doubt it). This is not paranoia. It’s too obvious and in-your-face. If it were just me, we would not be seeing such large numbers of people arming themselves. I really don’t believe any of this has any chance of getting better until this group of Democrats are out of power.

  7. “Media reports have confirmed the identity of the alleged driver, a registered sex offender who admitted in a video that he pimps children. The career criminal was released back into the streets on a paltry $1000 bond despite being charged with bail-jumping and facing a plethora of violent felonies and misdemeanors just over two weeks ago, according to Wisconsin Court Records.”

    How’s that bail reform working for you liberal types. Of course it doesn’t apply to any of the January 6th political prisoners being held without bail in DC.

    The only thing that would be icing on the cake would be if he was a follower of the “Religion of Peace”, if he is, they will try and keep that quiet. Gotta keep selling those “Coexist” bumper stickers.

    So, a couple of lessons here; First off, you need to install concrete K-Rail barriers to block off access to the parade route. Should have already learned this from the French attacks. Second, you need SWAT over watch with at least a 50 BMG, firing Raufoss Mk 211 Mod 0 HEIAP projectile (OLIN/Winchester makes it in the US) if you want to stop a vehicle and its driver reliably, as it defeats armor and a “Miss” will still kill/disable the driver with shrapnel. Finally, properly trained (not like most) officers carrying 5.56 carbines with barrier blind ammo on the parade route, not just handguns. If that looks too scary, give them all Santa hats to wear.

    Someone like this should have never been given bail. Law Enforcement has no control over that, so you have to assume that all public gatherings will be targets of an attack and plan accordingly. Saying you never had an issue before is not a valid excuse for not planning for the worst.

    • The suspect was released on a low bail because Libertarians Liberals and the Left believe there are too many black people in jail. It doesn’t matter to them, that much of the vast majority of their victims are other black people.

      • Well when we are dealing with liars, histrionics, and people who suck at math it gets hard to address the truth.

      • The Left’s degenerate policies fuel the criminal class and what do they do? Let the criminals off the hook! They’re making a bad situation much worse. It isn’t charitable or loving to continue going down this road, but that’s how they sell it with help from the lying media.

    • So a deadly “mass killing” and “mass injury” by use of a car attack by a violent black racist felon who pimps kids out while fleeing another crime he’s committed (stabbing) while out on bond, and having no gun.

      How long will it be before he is condemned as a “racists” for his wholesale slaughter/injury of many.

      I guess self-defense is needed after all, especially when the legal system is going to put these types back on the street.

      • What will happen faster though will be him set up as a martyr or victim with any criticism being reflected back as being prejudiced. Damned if you do/don’t

  9. I feel like white people are waking up.

    This was an anti-white hate crime. This is domestic terrorism.

    • “anti-white hate crime”

      it is. but the ones running the the media, the educational system, and the court system are all unified across the country and across the decades to support it and to suppress any opposition.

      who are these people with endless money, decades of concerted and coordinated action across dozens of disparate institutions, and who never are identified?

  10. POLICE SCARED TO SHOOT BECAUSE OF THE DRIVER’S HAIRSTYLE??..POLITICAL CLIMATE??..CAN’T BLAME HIM, BUT THE HESTATION CAUSED BLOODSHED..MORE OF THIS COMING, SADLY…

  11. War should be declared on blm. For every one they kill, they have 5 of them taken out. It wouldn’t take long for blm to become just a bad memory if this started happening.

    • BLM is Marxist poison. Young Kyle said he supports the BLM movement. I’m sure he has good intentions just like the other useful idiots, but we’re failing at getting the truth out about BLM.

    • Hey, let’s put this in perspective and take it easy on the guy. It was white racism that made him this way. dacian will be along shortly to prove it.

      (sarcasm off)

    • Was following links to videos on Twitter last night, but every one of them (except the “official source” one linked here) came from an account that was listed as deleted, or a tweet that had been deleted.

      This might explain why.

  19. Rittenhouse told Carlson he supports BLM and whar he did was self defense and race had nothing to do with it.

  20. The good news is a suspect is in custody. Either he talks or he lawyers-up so finding out motive may take awhile. Those sitting on the sidelines including myself were mislead to believe it was 3 Black Men in a SUV shooting. Today it’s an officer shooting at the SUV. To make matters worse the forum’s closet bigots assume they see opportunity to pounce and justify spreading bigotry. Note it and flush it.

    Right now there are people talking about funeral plans and people still waiting for a doctor to walk through a door to update them on the condition of a loved one or perhaps in the case of others it’s their loved ones.
    Those on the receiving end of this tragedy and those dealing with it need Prayer.

    • Deb, the piece of shit in custody is an avowed Black Nationalist. It’s OK to hate those that hate you.

  21. There’s absolutely no reason anyone ever has to go faster than 15mph. These high-capacity speedometers turn a vehicle into an assault vehicle.

    For the children…

  22. While the spin doctors are getting up to speed on editing their canned speeches and comments and “opinion” to some how make this the fault of Rittenhouse and “systemic racism” …. it might be worth noting how quiet the BLM movement, the mainstream media, “civil rights” groups, and various always outspoken black groups and people are on the subject of this mans obvious racism and wishes of inflicting violence on whites and his racial hatred.

    But that’s probably because its been noticed and made it into the mainstream and they don’t want to let that be an issue here because they are desperately trying to once again keep alive the myth today that all black people are victims of racism all white people are racists. But the facts are facts so:

    According to the 2018 National Crime Victimization Survey, for black victims of violent crime 70.3% of their offenders were black and 10.6% of their offenders were white. In other words, according to the 2018 National Crime Victimization Survey, the overwhelming majority of violent crimes against blacks are committed by other blacks.

    New (released in) 2021 FBI Crime Data shows;

    A. A record record surge in Black-on-Black homicide, and increase in Anti-White Hate Crimes.

    B. The number of black known homicide offenders rose to almost 60%, with the same demographic committing over 50% of all violent crimes.

    C. Anti-white hate crimes are the second most common hate crime category. The data also show that black offenders of hate crimes occurred at over twice the rate per 100,000 people than hate crimes committed by white offenders.

    D. On average, black Americans commit hate crimes at a rate that is three times higher than whites per 100,000 according to FBI crime data from the five previous years.

    E. Traditionally, white Americans are far more often victims of interracial crime than any other group. In 2018, The Bureau of Justice Statistics released their survey of criminal victimization, breaking down 593,598 interracial violence between blacks and whites. Black Americans committed 537,204 of those interracial felonies or 90 percent, and white Americans committed 56,394 of them or less than 10 percent.

    F. Furthermore, despite making up only 13.4% of the American population, black Americans commit more than double the amount of interracial homicides on white Americans, who make up 60.4% of the American population.

    In 2012-13, then-President Obama’s DOJ recorded that black Americans committed 85 percent of all interracial victimizations between blacks and whites; white Americans only committed around 15 percent.

    • yeah, the idiot says also “Living in Wisconsin, he probably felt threatened,”. Threatened by who you idiot, children and grannies?

  27. First off, I want to offer condolences to the families and friends of those killed or injured.
    Secondly, I have to ask how anyone can carry so much hate in order to think this kind of terrorism is in any excusable. Or how anyone could rationalize this. No matter what someone believes, or what they may perceive as the sins or slights of society, there is no reason or excuse, or justification for anything like this.
    Wisconsin doesn’t have the death penalty. But, the scum who drove into a crowd of kids like this deserves to be removed from the world as quickly and publicly as possible. I think being drawn and quartered would be appropriate.

  28. I hope his cell mate shanks him a hundred times but not before he is gang raped by the Aryan Brotherhood…

  29. I feel so bad for these people. It’s bad enough when innocent people die. Everyone hurts even more of there is malice in the deaths. The fact that it sounds like young children died makes this even worse! I’m praying for those hurt that they might heal. I don’t know what the investigation will bring up. But if this person intentionally drove into these people with a vehicle…well…there is a special place for those who go after young children according to my faith.

    • “there is a special place for those who go after young children according to my faith”

      “Matthew 18:6 but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

      what about the little ones who don’t believe in him? are they fair game?

  30. So admittedly I didn’t read all these posts so it might have been mentioned. But just in case it wasn’t. Y’all know what he bonded out for less than 48hrs prior to his mass murder spree? You’re not going to believe this….wait for it….he punched his baby mamma in the face and ran her over with his car. Yep, then posted a $1,000.00 bond walked free and ran over everyone at the parade. Check out his social media…then after you do…look me in the eye and tell me this guy wasn’t a race motivated domestic terrorist. Bet you can’t.

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