A sport utility automobile plowed via a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday, placing greater than 20 folks together with kids and inflicting “some fatalities,” town’s police chief mentioned.
Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson mentioned an individual of curiosity was in custody and the suspect automobile had been recovered after the incident in Waukesha, about 20 miles (32 km) west of Milwaukee.
A shelter-in-place order had been lifted, police mentioned.
“A purple SUV drove into our Christmas parade that we had been holding downtown. Greater than 20 people had been injured on account of this incident,” Thompson advised reporters.
Requested concerning the fatalities, Thompson mentioned: “I don’t have an actual quantity right now.”
It was not recognized whether or not the incident was associated to terrorism, he added.
A video posted on-line of the incident confirmed a purple SUV plowing via the parade, showing to run over greater than a dozen folks.
In a second video, police appeared to open hearth on the automobile because it crashed via avenue boundaries.
The native CBS affiliate later confirmed an image on Twitter of what seemed to be the purple SUV concerned with its hood crumpled and entrance fender hanging off, parked in a driveway.
A lady advised Milwaukee’s Fox6 TV station that the SUV hit a dance staff of women between 9 and 15 years outdated. She mentioned the fast response was silence, adopted by screaming, operating and checking on these injured, Fox6 reported.
One witness mentioned the driving force hit the “Dancing Grannies” and a minimum of one particular person flipped over the hood of the SUV, in line with Milwaukee’s WISN-TV, an ABC affiliate.
One other witness estimated the SUV was going about 40 mph (64 kph) when it hit the gang, the TV station mentioned.
Pictures and movies of Waukesha circulating on Twitter confirmed police vehicles and ambulances crowding a avenue decked out with Christmas lights within the aftermath of the incident. Bundled up folks huddled on sidewalks as nightfall fell.
A number of the injured had been taken to the hospital by ambulance, others by police and nonetheless extra by household and mates, Thompson mentioned.
The incident occurred round 4:39 p.m. (2239 GMT), police mentioned.
“As we had been strolling again in between the buildings … we noticed an SUV cross over, simply put the pedal to the steel and simply zooming full pace alongside the parade route. After which we heard a loud bang, and simply deafening cries and screams from people who find themselves struck by the automobile,” Angelito Tenorio, an alderman in close by West Allis, advised the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Law enforcement officials ran down the road, telling parade watchers to take shelter in shops, the newspaper mentioned.