WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
One video showed a woman screaming, \u201cOh my God!\u201d repeatedly as a group of young dancers\u00a0was struck Sunday.\u00a0A father talked of going \u201cfrom one crumpled body to the other\u201d in search of his daughter. Members of a \u201cDancing Grannies\u201d club were among those hit.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s statement also noted that many people took themselves to hospitals. The city did not release any additional information about those who died.<\/p>\n
A \u201cperson of interest\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat took place in Waukesha today is sickening, and I have every confidence that those responsible will be brought to justice,\u201d Attorney General Josh Kaul, the state\u2019s top law enforcement officer, tweeted.<\/p>\n
The horror was recorded by the city\u2019s livestream and onlookers\u2019 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\u2019s bullets.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were pompoms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere. I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter,\u201d Corey Montiho, a Waukesha school district board member, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. \u201cMy wife and two daughters were almost hit. Please pray for everybody. Please pray.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies posted on its Facebook page that \u201cmembers of the group and volunteers were impacted and we are waiting for word on their conditions.\u201d The group\u2019s profile describes them as a \u201cgroup of grannies that meet once a week to practice routines for summer and winter parades.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Catholic priest, multiple parishioners and Waukesha Catholic schoolchildren were among those injured, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee spokeswoman Sandra Peterson said.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cjust blazed right past us.\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Then he walked forward to see the damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere were small children laying all over the road, there were police officers and EMTs doing CPR on multiple members of the parade,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen we heard a loud bang,\u201d Tenorio said. \u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019s list of entries included cheer, dance and band entries associated with district schools.<\/p>\n
Gov. Tony Evers said he and his wife, Kathy, were \u201cpraying for Waukesha tonight and all the kids, families, and community members affected by this senseless act.\u201d<\/p>\n
The parade, held each year on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, is sponsored by the city\u2019s Chamber of Commerce. This year\u2019s, the 59th, had the theme of \u201ccomfort and joy.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Source: AP News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) \u2014 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, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":407609,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[78],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-407608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=407608"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":407618,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/407608\/revisions\/407618"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/407609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=407608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=407608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonna.so\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=407608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}