Officials on Monday said they will charge Darrell E. Brooks, 39, with five counts of intentional homicide in connection to the incident. Brooks is accused of plowing his red SUV into crowds of parade-goers, killing five people, and injuring scores more, including children and the elderly.
“I called an Uber ... and I’m supposed to be waiting for it over here, but I don’t know when it’s coming,” the man, later identified as Brooks, can be heard saying on the Ring doorbell camera. “Can you call it for me please? I’m homeless.”
Rider said he let the man inside, gave him a jacket, and made him a sandwich. Moments later, he saw police officers drive by.
“All of a sudden, I look outside my street and I saw a few cop cars drive by and I’m getting extra nervous,” Rider told NBC News, adding that he asked Brooks to leave, which he did.
Rider’s neighbor, he recalled, called the police before Brooks then started pounding on his front door. Brooks said he left his ID inside and demanded to be let in.
“Then the next thing you know, you see the cops with lights on him, saying, ‘Hands in the air, hands in the air,’” Rider told the outlet, adding that he had no idea that man in question was suspected in the parade massacre. Police said Monday that Brooks was also involved in a domestic disturbance before Sunday’s attack.
In the footage, an officer is heard saying: “Hands up! Put your hands where I can see them!” Brooks responds, “Whoa, whoa, whoa!” before raising his hands.
Other footage shows the homeowner opening his door. “Hey, do you know this guy?” the officer asks him. “Absolutely not,” the homeowner says.
Katrina Reigh, Rider’s girlfriend, confirmed to Fox News that Rider gave him a jacket and sandwich, not realizing the man he interacted with was wanted by police.
“If he had known what was going on down the block of course he never would have let him in or anything like that. Just crazy,” Reigh said.
Those Brooks allegedly killed are all over the age of 50, including Jane Kulich, 52; Tamara Durand, 52; Wilhelm Hospel, 82; Leanna Owens, 71; and Virginia Sorenson, 79.
Court records show that Brooks, who was reportedly an aspiring rapper, had a lengthy criminal record stretching back decades. The man allegedly had run over the mother of his child with his vehicle and was released on a $1,000 bond earlier this month, which the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office said was “inappropriately low.”
On Monday, authorities said that they believe Brooks acted alone and said there is no nexus to terrorism. However, they did not provide a motive and didn’t explain why there was no connection to terrorism in the case.
