Wisconsin Christmas parade attack suspect Darrell Brooks charged as child’s death brings toll to 6
- Bail was set at US$5 million; at the time he allegedly drove his SUV into the crowd, Brooks was out on an ‘inappropriately low’ US$1,000 bond over another case
- Prosecutors said an eight-year-old boy had died, marking the first death of a child in the incident
The man accused of driving his vehicle into a traditional Christmas parade near Milwaukee made his first court appearance on Tuesday since the weekend rampage and was charged with homicide, as the death toll rose to six.
The death toll was raised after prosecutors said an eight-year-old boy had died, marking the first death of a child in the incident.
Darrell Brooks, 39, appeared in Waukesha County Circuit Court and the court commissioner set bail at US$5 million.
Authorities said Brooks deliberately drove an SUV through police barricades on Sunday and the annual parade in the city of Waukesha, about 20 miles (32km) west of Milwaukee.
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The high bail comes after Brooks was released from custody in another case after posting US$1,000 cash bond on November 11, an amount that the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office now says was “inappropriately low in light of the nature of the recent charges” against him.
