Driver Plows S.U.V. Into Holiday Parade in Wisconsin

U.S.|Driver Plows S.U.V. Into Holiday Parade successful Wisconsin

Police and exigency responders were descending connected the downtown of a Wisconsin metropolis aft the operator of an S.U.V. plowed into a vacation parade connected Sunday, leaving radical injured, according to an eyewitness.

The witness, Kaylee Staral, a nonmigratory of Waukesha, conscionable westbound of Milwaukee, was astatine the parade with her parent and stepfather. She said they were lasting astatine the curb extracurricular a store erstwhile a reddish S.U.V. came barreling down the thoroughfare successful the mediate of the parade.

Her parent went to assistance those who were injured, she said, but constabulary officers soon came and told those who remained that determination had been gunshots and directed radical to question information wrong stores.

Ms. Staral said that she had not heard gunfire but that radical were injured. Information connected the fig and severity of the injuries was not instantly available. It was besides unclear what became of the operator of the S.U.V.

“I deliberation a batch of radical are successful daze close now,” Ms. Staral said. “It was scary.”

Tom Hickey, 25, was walking adjacent a friend’s interval astatine the backmost of the parade erstwhile helium heard honking down him.

A antheral wearing a sweatshirt and grey chapeau who was driving a reddish Ford Escape was trying to marque his mode done the crowd. Mr. Hickey said helium thought the operator was lost.

Then, the operator took a close crook onto the main parade route, gunned the motor and moved done the parade way astatine what appeared to beryllium apical speed, helium said.

“When helium made that close turn, that’s erstwhile helium turned truly dangerous,” Mr. Hickey said. Amid screaming radical and the roar of the car’s engine, Mr. Hickey besides heard what helium described arsenic astir 5 gunshots.

In a video posted connected the city’s Facebook page, the S.U.V. tin bee seen speeding down the parade way and a fewer screams tin beryllium heard from those successful the crowd.

Then, seconds later, a constabulary serviceman runs down the parade route, followed by a fig of constabulary vehicles arsenic a radical of children successful the parade stops performing.

In a Facebook post, the Waukesha Police Department asked residents to debar the downtown area. The constabulary besides acceptable up a household reunification determination astatine the Waukesha Metro Center.

The parade way ran mostly on Main Street, and was acceptable to extremity connected Wisconsin Avenue adjacent Cutler Park.

Don Paul Browne, a metropolis alderman, was marching successful the parade with the politician but had already near and did not witnesser what happened. He said the metropolis was celebrating its 125th day and residents were successful particularly bully spirits due to the fact that the parade was canceled past twelvemonth due to the fact that of the pandemic.

He described the parade arsenic a family-friendly lawsuit that draws spectators from different counties. He struggled to recognize what happened, helium said, due to the fact that determination were nary governmental undertones oregon contention connected with the parade.

This is simply a processing story.

Dan Simmons and Vimal Patel contributed reporting.