A joyful and celebratory holiday event became something far darker Sunday evening when an SUV plowed through the Waukesha Christmas Parade, hitting and injuring dozens of participants and killing at least five in the Milwaukee suburb.
Children’s Wisconsin, a Milwaukee hospital, received 18 children with wounds varying from broken bones to serious head injuries, authorities said in a press conference Monday.
The children were between ages 3 and 16, and included three sets of siblings, Dr. Amy Drendel, the hospital’s medical director of emergency medicine, said.
“Our region has experienced mass casualty events in the past,” she said, “but none in the recent history involving such a large number of children.”
Michael Meyer, director of the hospital’s critical care unit, said 10 of the children were admitted to the intensive care unit. Six of the children are still in critical condition as of Monday afternoon, 3 children are considered serious and 1 child was in fair condition, officials said. Two children have been discharged from the hospital.
“Each of these injuries impacts a family, friends and a larger circle beyond those immediately injured,” Dr. Michael Gutzeit, chief medical officer at Children’s Wisconsin, said. “This is a community tragedy, and we will respond as a community.”
Among the five dead were members of the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies, an all grandmother dance troupe that performs in more than two dozen parades each year. Members range in age from their 50s to 70s, the only requirement being that they must have grandkids.
“Our group was doing what they loved,” the Dancing Grannies said in a Facebook post, “performing in front of crowds in a parade putting smiles on faces of all ages, filling them with joy and happiness.”
Corey Montiho, a Waukesha school board member, was nearby when he heard his daughter’s youth dance team had been hit, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
“There were pom-poms and shoes and spilled hot chocolate everywhere,” Montiho told the newspaper. “I had to go from one crumpled body to the other to find my daughter. My wife and two daughters were almost hit. Please pray for everybody. Please pray. My family is safe but many are not. I held one little girl’s head in my hand, she was seizing and she was bleeding out of her ears. I held her mother as she collapsed. Please pray.”
In a Facebook post, the Waukesha Xtreme Dance Team thanked those who had checked on the members and their families and asked for privacy as they processed the tragedy.
It was not immediately clear if Montiho’s daughter was in the Waukesha Xtreme Dance Team or another group.
A fund was set up Monday by the Waukesha County Community Foundation and United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County to support the families affected by the incident.
Also among the injured was a Catholic priest, multiple parishioners and several children in the Waukesha Catholic School System, the Waukesha Archdiocese said in a statement on Facebook. The Catholic Community of Waukesha also confirmed on Facebook that several parishioners were in the hospital after suffering injuries at the parade.
A video shared with CNN showed members of a marching band being struck from behind as they walked down the street playing. The Journal Sentinel reported that the group was from the Waukesha South High School Black Shirt Band.
Waukesha police on Sunday night said 5 people had died and 40 were injured, but that the numbers could change as more information became available.
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