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Where is Darrell Brooks now? Waukesha suspect was booked on 5 counts of intentional homicide

Waukesha Police Chief Daniel Thompson told reporters that Darrell E Brooks, 39, has been booked on five counts of intentional homicide

WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN: Darrell Brooks, the man accused of plowing his SUV into crowds at the Waukesha Christmas Parade on Main Street, is currently in jail awaiting his first court appearance later in the day on Tuesday, November 23.

Waukesha Police Chief Daniel Thompson told reporters how Darrell E. Brooks, 39, was booked on five counts of intentional homicide after the tragedy. City officials identified the four women and the man who were killed in the tragedy as Virginia Sorenson, 79, LeAnna Owen, 71, Tamara Durand, 52, Jane Kulich, 52, and Wilhelm Hospel, 81. Meanwhile, there were 48 additional injuries, including two children who were hospitalized in critical condition at the time of publication.

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Where is Darrell Brooks?

According to CBS 58 Milwaukee reporter Kim Shine, Brooks has been booked into the Waukesha County Jail, where he will be remanded in custody ahead of his first court appearance later in the day on Tuesday, November 23.

It emerged that Brooks had a decades-long criminal record including arrests for sexual abuse, drugs, battery, and domestic abuse. Meanwhile, he still has two active cases in Milwaukee. In one, the suspect was charged in July 2020 with two counts of reckless endangerment and possession of a dangerous weapon as a convicted felon, for which he posted a $500 bail in February. In the other case, he was charged November 5 with resisting or obstructing an officer, bail jumping, recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct, and battery.

According to NBC News, the last three charges were connected to domestic abuse, per court records. The alleged victim in that incident was the mother of Brooks' child. Records alleged that he punched her and later ran over her with his car in a gas station parking lot. Police noticed dried blood on the victim's face, a swollen lip, and tire tracks on her pants. Brooks reportedly secured his freedom by simply posting a $1,000 cash bond on November 11.

“The State’s bail recommendation, in this case, was inappropriately low in light of the nature of the recent charges and the pending charges against Mr. Brooks,” Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm admitted in a statement. “The bail recommendation, in this case, is not consistent with the approach of the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office toward matters involving violent crime, nor was it consistent with the risk assessment of the defendant prior to the setting of bail.” Chisholm added, “This office is currently conducting an internal review of the decision to make the recent bail recommendation in this matter in order to determine the appropriate next steps.”

Meanwhile, NBC News reported that there's also a warrant out for Brooks's arrest in Nevada, after he failed to appear at a court hearing in 2016. Police in the city of Sparks said he was scheduled to answer a charge that he failed to notify authorities about a move as he was required to do because he was on the state sex offender registry. This came after Brooks was convicted in 2006 of felony statutory sexual seduction for impregnating a 15-year-old girl. 

In fact, Wisconsin criminal records on Brooks date all the way back to 1999, including an arrest for battery, in which he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in prison and three years’ probation. Meanwhile, he was sentenced to 50 days behind bars in 2002 for possession of THC. The following year, he got a 20-day sentence for misdemeanor resisting or obstructing an officer. In 2005, he received a two-day sentence for misdemeanor obstructing an officer. In 2010, Brooks was sentenced to 11 months in prison and three years of probation after he pleaded no contest to felony strangulation and suffocation in 2010 and to violating his probation. The following year, he got a 37-day jail sentence for misdemeanor resisting or obstructing an officer. That same year, misdemeanor bail jumping and another THC offense lead to a 180-day jail sentence.