Waukesha Looks Ahead To Healing After Guilty Verdict In Parade Trial

WAUKESHA, WI — Waukesha leaders and community members were prompted to look ahead to continued healing after a jury on Wednesday found Darrell Brooks guilty of six homicide counts and 70 more charges in the 2021 Christmas parade trial.

Six people were killed in the November parade and dozens more were injured when Brooks steered around police and intentionally plowed into the parade crowd with his SUV, according to prosecutors. In a statement to the city's Facebook account on Wednesday, Waukesha Mayor Shawn Reilly said he is thankful for the guilty verdict.

“We can now re-focus on taking steps forward as a community and continue the healing process," Reilly said. Looking ahead to the one-year anniversary of the tragedy, the city has planned a remembrance ceremony.

The community will gather for the ceremony on Nov. 21 at the Les Paul Performance Center in Culter Park beginning at 4:39 p.m. The mayor and other authorities will deliver remarks and at the end of the night, the city will be "turning blue."

People are invited to again light their homes and businesses blue as a show of unity and support for the victims of the parade for the ceremony. The city said they will have a limited amount of blue light bulbs to hand out for free at the ceremony. Find more information about the remembrance ceremony at the city's website.

The Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a group that suffered five deaths in the 2021 parade, said in a statement on Facebook after the verdict "now is the next stage of learning to live the pain of terrible and totally senseless loss."

The group said that justice was served, but "even with all of this....lives are still gone. Lives are forever changed. A guilty verdict will never fix or change that."

"The next few months with parades will be hard, and will also be an active sign of resilience, of still living with deep and real trauma, as well as making choices to do what we need to do to heal individually and as a group," the Dancing Grannies post said. "We will go on. Ultimately darkness will not overcome the light. We will grow and we will always be Grannie Strong!"

Despite the group's loss, the Grannies said they plan to return to the next Waukesha Christmas parade on Dec. 4. More details about the 2022 Christmas parade can be found on the city's website.

The year since the tragedy hasn't left a single day without grieving from the community, Police Chief Dan Thompson said in a statement to the city's Facebook.

“The victims' families as well as our first responders continue to deal with the lasting effects of the horrors of that day," Thompson said. "We are grateful for the support that has come from all over the world, and we ask you to continue to keep all those involved in your prayers.”

On the last day of the trial, Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper said Brooks' actions were "that of a murderer." Brooks spent his time for closing arguments on Tuesday speaking to the jury about unbacked claims of a malfunctioning throttle and his time with the bible.

"As a community, we still have a long road ahead filled with difficult days," the city posted to Facebook. "This will be especially true as we approach the one-year anniversary of the tragedy. However, as we have experienced the past year, we know that when we stand together, we remain #waukeshastrong."

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