MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin court commissioner has ordered a Milwaukee man accused of plowing his SUV through a suburban Christmas parade, killing six people and injuring dozens more, to stand trial.
Waukesha County Court Commissioner Kevin Costello ordered Darrell Brooks Jr. bound over for trial on more than 70 charges, including six homicide counts at the end of a preliminary hearing.
Prosecutors allege Brooks drove his SUV through a Christmas parade in Waukesha on Nov. 21. He faces scores of charges, including six homicide counts.
Brooks would face mandatory life in prison if convicted on one of the homicides.
Brooks has a lengthy criminal history. Court records show that on Nov. 2 — just weeks before the attack — the mother of Brooks' child reported that he had punched her in the face while she was at a gas station in Milwaukee.
After Brooks allegedly struck her, a criminal complaint alleges he ran over the woman with his maroon SUV. She was taken to the hospital and treated for her injuries, where "officers observed tire tracks on her left pants leg."
Brooks was arrested following the incident but released from jail on a $1,000 bond on Nov. 11.
The local district attorney had asked for $1,000 bail despite Brooks being out on bail over a July 2020 gun charge, where he allegedly fired a gun at his nephew as his nephew was leaving a confrontation.
