Tamara L. Carlson Durand, a 52-year-old White/Caucasian woman, was killed on November 21, 2021, while taking part in the annual Christmas parade in downtown Waukesha, Wisconsin. Durand had recently joined the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, a longtime parade and performance group, and the Waukesha event was to be her first public parade with them. She had reportedly practiced the group's routines for months and was extremely excited about finally performing.
Hours earlier, she had returned from a trip to Florida after changing her travel plans so she could arrive home in time for the parade.
Durand had spent much of her life helping other people. She had worked for many years as an elementary school teacher in the Beaver Dam Unified School District and had also coached cheerleading. Later, she devoted herself to pastoral care, serving as a chaplain at Zilber Family Hospice and volunteering as a chaplain at Waukesha Memorial Hospital. She held master's degrees in education and theology and had aspirations of completing a doctorate in theology. She was a mother of three, a grandmother, an avid traveler and runner, and someone her family and friends remembered as constantly energetic and eager to serve others.
The celebration on Main Street turned catastrophic late that afternoon when a red Ford Escape driven by Darrell E. Brooks Jr. entered the parade route. Police officers attempted to stop the vehicle as it approached and moved through the restricted area. According to the criminal complaint and later trial testimony, officers shouted commands for the driver to stop, and one detective struck the hood and then the side of the SUV while repeatedly ordering the driver to halt. Brooks continued forward. Witnesses described the vehicle accelerating and moving through groups of parade participants, with some saying it appeared to maneuver around vehicles rather than around people.
Durand was marching with the Dancing Grannies when the SUV reached their group. Fellow member Laura Thein later testified that everything happened so quickly that she was still dancing when she suddenly saw the red vehicle pass through the formation. Thein recalled the SUV striking people in rapid succession and said Durand and Wilhelm Hospel, who was volunteering with the group, were among those struck as the vehicle came through. Durand was thrown toward the sidewalk, making it difficult for her fellow performers to immediately locate her amid the chaos.
Medical testimony presented during Brooks's trial documented the tremendous force of the impact. Waukesha County Medical Examiner Dr. Lynda Biedrzycki testified that the vehicle struck Durand around the hip, fracturing her pelvis. Durand was thrown to the ground and suffered severe injuries to her head and body, including extensive skull fractures, internal head trauma and additional fractures. The medical examiner determined that her death resulted from multiple blunt-force injuries and testified that the injuries were consistent with being struck by a sport-utility vehicle traveling with substantial force.
Durand was one of six people ultimately killed in the attack. Milwaukee Dancing Grannies members Virginia Sorenson and LeAnna Owen also died, along with Dancing Grannies volunteer Wilhelm Hospel, Citizens Bank employee Jane Kulich and eight-year-old Jackson Sparks, who died from his injuries two days later. Dozens of other parade participants and spectators were injured, including numerous children. The deaths and injuries transformed what had been one of Waukesha's most familiar community celebrations into a sprawling crime scene stretching along several blocks of the parade route.
Investigators quickly identified Brooks as the driver. Police said he had been involved in a domestic disturbance shortly before reaching the parade area, although authorities said they found no evidence that the parade attack was terrorism or that Brooks personally knew the people he struck. Once the SUV was on the parade route, however, prosecutors argued that his continued driving, acceleration, failure to obey officers and movements through the crowd demonstrated intentional conduct.
After leaving the parade route, Brooks abandoned the damaged Ford Escape and fled on foot. He eventually approached the home of Waukesha resident Daniel Rider wearing little protection from the cold and asked to use a telephone, claiming he was homeless and trying to arrange a ride. Rider initially allowed him inside, gave him food and a coat, and permitted him to use his phone. Rider was unaware of what had just happened downtown. After becoming uncomfortable and noticing the police presence in the neighborhood, he asked Brooks to leave. Brooks returned to the door shortly afterward, and police arrived and arrested him outside the residence.
Prosecutors initially charged Brooks with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide for the deaths that had been confirmed immediately after the parade. A sixth homicide charge was added following the death of Jackson Sparks. The case eventually expanded to 76 criminal counts stemming from the parade attack and events surrounding it.
Brooks went to trial in Waukesha County in October 2022 and represented himself. The prosecution presented police officers, eyewitnesses, surviving victims, members of the Dancing Grannies, medical examiners and other witnesses, along with extensive photographic, surveillance and video evidence tracing the Ford Escape's movement through the parade and Brooks's actions before and after the attack. The jury also heard detailed medical testimony concerning Durand and the other people who were killed.
On October 26, 2022, the jury found Brooks guilty on all 76 counts. Those convictions included six counts of first-degree intentional homicide, 61 counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, six counts of hit-and-run involving death, two counts of felony bail jumping and one misdemeanor battery charge. The intentional-homicide convictions formally established Brooks's criminal responsibility for the deaths of Durand and the other five victims.
In November 2022, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Dorow sentenced Brooks to six consecutive life sentences without the possibility of release on extended supervision, one for each person he killed. He also received 17½ years of imprisonment on each of the 61 reckless-endangerment convictions, amounting to 762½ additional years of confinement, along with sentences on the remaining charges. The extraordinary sentence ensured that Brooks would spend the remainder of his life in prison.
For Durand's family and the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, her death was particularly heartbreaking because November 21 was supposed to represent the beginning of something joyful. She had joined the group because she loved dancing and had eagerly prepared for her first parade, only to be killed during that debut performance. Her family remembered a deeply faithful person devoted to her children, grandson and community. Even after her death, that commitment to helping others continued through her decision to be an organ donor.
