Christmas Turned to Madness

Christmas Turned to Madness

Ava Jakubowski, Writer | 12/8/2021

A heart-wrenching tragedy took place on November 21, 2021, when a man named Darrel Brooks Jr drove through the Waukesha Christmas parade. While traveling down the parade route, he relentlessly drove through police barriers and continued through gunshots by police attempting to stop him.

Brooks had several options to exit the parade route but instead increased his speed and plowed into the crowds of people. Witnesses had told police that he appeared to be zig-zagging to hit as many people as possible.

The parade had already started when Waukesha Police Detective Tom Casey saw a 2010 Ford Escape coming down White Rock Ave towards the parade. Casey stepped in front of the vehicle, pounding on the hood of the car, and repeatedly yelled at Brooks to stop, but he kept driving.

Darrell Brooks, the driver, was taken into custody on the night of the incident. At first, he was charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, but after the death of Jackson Sparks, the court ruled Brooks to be charged with another count of first-degree intentional homicide.

Over 40 people were injured and it is confirmed that 6 people have died as of now. The victims who died were Virginia Sorenson, 79; Leanna Owen, 71; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; Wilhelm Hospel, 81; Jackson Sparks, 8.

Children’s Hospital was one of the many hospitals that took in patients and gave daily updates on their patients and their response to the incident.

On Sunday, November 21, Children’s reported that they were immediately prepared for the surge of patients after being notified by law enforcement of the incident. As of 8 pm that night, they received 15 patients and no fatalities.

Then on Monday, November 22, they updated that 18 children were brought to the Emergency Department, the ages ranged from 3-16, out of the 18, there were three sets of siblings. The injuries varied from facial abrasions, to broken bones, to head injuries. They continued to state that 6 of the patients went into surgery that night, 2 children were discharged, 10 others were admitted to the PICU (Pediatric Intensive Care Unit), and the other 6 to other hospital areas.

Unfortunately, on Tuesday November 23, they reported that a child in their care had succumbed to his injuries and had passed.

Jackson Sparks was an 8-year-old boy who adored baseball. He was one of the children injured during the Waukesha parade, and he was the child who had died from his injuries on November 23.

Children’s continued to update the status of their patients daily, whether they were in serious, fair, or good condition. As of now, there are only 5 children still in their care, 1 in serious condition and 4 in fair condition.

On December 1, they stated that their focus is now shifting from saving lives to recovery and will no longer be providing daily updates.

While Brook’s preliminary hearing is not until January 14, each homicide charge he is faced with is mandatory life in prison.