Waukesha suspect Darrell Brooks due back in court as new documents reveal he blamed son in 2020 gun case
WAUKESHA, Wis. - Waukesha Christmas parade suspect Darrell Brooks Jr. is due back in court Friday for his arraignment on dozens of charges filed in connection with the attack – which left six people dead and dozens more injured.
Brooks has history of violent crime stretching back to 1999 – and was out on bail at the time of the massacre after allegedly running over his ex with the same red Ford SUV he allegedly used to mow down more than 70 parade-goers on Nov. 21.
He was released on $1,000 bail in that case despite a 50-page rap sheet and another pending felony charge for a domestic incident in which he allegedly fired a handgun during an argument with his nephew.
Darrell Brooks in court, preliminary hearing
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Police documents obtained by Fox News Digital from the gun case show he tried to throw his son under the bus, shift blame to someone else and offered to rat out a drug dealer before admitting to police he shot a bullet into the ground during the incident.
They include a summary of Brooks’ mirandized interview from July 26, 2020.
Darrell Brooks Jr.
Initially, Brooks blamed his son for the stolen gun police found just inches from him when they arrested him for allegedly firing at his nephew a day earlier, according to the documents. He allegedly claimed to have confiscated it from his son, who he accused of posing with it on Snapchat.
"Brooks stated he had no knowledge of any gun being fired and denied firing any gun himself," the filing reads.
He also told the interrogating officer that he thought pills that police found in his possession were "THC edibles." They tested positive for meth.
He offered to snitch on a drug dealer he said he’d bought them from – but the officer told him he didn’t believe his story, according to the report.
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Then he allegedly changed his story, blaming the gunshot on his son’s friend – which the officer also didn’t believe.
Finally, Brooks allegedly admitted to firing the gun while arguing with his nephew and a young woman who were sitting in a car at the time.
"I shot the gun at the ground," the report quotes him as saying. "It was not intended for my nephew. It was not intended to harm or hurt anybody. It was intended to get [his nephew’s girlfriend] the f--- away from my house."
Brooks was staying with his mother at the time.
Darrell Brooks initial appearance in Waukesha County court
During the interview, he repeatedly stressed that he would "do anything" to prevent his daughter from being sent back into foster care.
Brooks’ arraignment hearing in Waukesha was scheduled for 10:15 a.m. CT Friday. He is facing 77 charges ranging from first-degree intentional homicide to reckless endangerment and battery for allegedly plowing his Ford Escape through the parade, beating up his ex and fleeing the scene.
He is accused of killing six people: Jackson Sparks, 8; Tamara Durand, 52; Jane Kulich, 52; LeAnna Owen, 71; Virginia Sorenson, 79; and Wilhelm, 81. Dozens more were injured.
Brooks' ex-girlfriend told police after the tragedy that he had been fighting with her minutes before the parade horror and that he gave her a black eye and a split lip, hitting her while they were in the car together. At the time, he was out on bail for allegedly punching the same woman in the face and running her down with the same vehicle on Nov. 2 – and also for the incident with his nephew. He also had an active warrant out of Nevada for skipping court on sex crime charges.
Video of Darrell Brooks Jr. allegedly driving through Waukesha Christmas parade
He’s currently being held on $5 million cash bail.
In Brooks’ only remarks from behind bars, he told Fox News Digital that he felt "demonized" and "dehumanized" following his arrest.
Brooks has been in and out of criminal court for more than two decades, serving time in prison and racking up convictions for domestic violence, child sex crimes, firearms, drugs and battery.
Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm has announced an investigation into his own office for recommending the "inappropriately low" bail that allowed Brooks to go free just days before the parade attack.
Read more at FOXNews.com.
Fox News’ Stephanie Pagones contributed to this report.
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