MADISON, WIS. – The man who allegedly drove his SUV during a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing six people and injuring dozens, said on Wednesday he felt like he was being “demonized by the devil.” haunted”.
Darrell Brooks Jr., in an interview with Fox News from Waukesha County Jail, gave no details about a possible motive.
“I just felt like I was becoming a monster – possessed by a demon,” Brooks said, as reported by Fox.
According to the criminal complaint, Brooks drove his SUV into a parade in Waukesha on November 21. Witnesses said he turned and appeared to be hitting people on purpose. He was arrested a few minutes later while he was standing on the porch of a nearby house asking his landlord to call for a car.
Police said he had fled the scene of domestic riots when he turned into the parade, although officers were not pursuing him at the time. He was charged with six counts of willful first-degree murder.
Brooks’ mother, Dawn Woods, released a letter on Wednesday offering her family condolences to the victims.
She said her son has long suffered from mental health problems and that after he became an adult, he did not have the insurance and financial means to continue taking medication and counseling, leading to crime.
“Mental illness is real and the system is broken, it can and must be fixed NOW, not next year or by new legislation NOW. A lot of people like Darrell have fallen into disrepair because of one thing. broken systems that no one cares to fix, could get the help they desperately need,” Woods wrote in the letter, which was first obtained by WDJT-TV.
At the time of the crash, Brooks was on $1,000 bail in a Milwaukee County case in which he was accused of intentionally hitting a woman’s car. He was charged in that case on November 5.
He is also a defendant in another Milwaukee County case from 2020, in which he was accused of shooting his nephew and another person.
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