Situation Report: 5 dead, 40 injured as vehicle plows into Wisconsin Christmas Parade

This is a situation report about an event still under investigation. Details may change.

A red SUV drove through the Waukesha, Wisconsin Christmas parade November 21^st, killing at least 5 parade participants and injuring dozens, according to local law enforcement. The incident was caught on multiple videos and rapidly spread across social media.

Police have one individual in custody, 39-year-old Wisconsin resident Darrell Brooks Jr., an aspiring rapper with multiple social media accounts and a substantial criminal record including second degree felony reckless endangerment, according to the news website Heavy.com.

While law enforcement has said they are investigating whether Brooks may have been fleeing the scene of an earlier law enforcement incident, both the type and location of the incident raised immediate questions regarding motive.

Christmas events have been favored targets of vehicular attacks by jihadist terror groups such as ISIS, and Wisconsin has been front and center of media attention following the conclusion of the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial.

While social media accounts allegedly belonging to Brooks, operating under the pseudonym MathBoi Fly, showed no evidence of Islamic affiliation or jihadist sentiments, there were multiple posts in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, opposition to the Rittenhouse verdict, anti-police sentiment, and support for black identity extremist groups such as the Black Panther Party. But none of the available material reviewed by Center for Security Policy necessarily rose to the level of a threat of imminent violence.

In recent years the FBI has abandoned its use of the “black identity extremism” category, following political pressure from Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus. This raises serious questions about whether law enforcement agencies receive adequate information or training about identifying threats derived from black identity extremist groups or ideology.

Vehicular attacks are likely to remain a popular method of attack by a wide variety of ideological threats. Deterring or prevent such attacks are likely to require a heavy security posture which can often interfere with the character of the event being protected. Law enforcement agencies should carefully weigh options for protecting large crowds, particularly when events carry religious or ideological significance.