A family member of a Waukesha, Wisconsin, parade victim yelled “burn in hell” on Wednesday as a judge announced that Darrell Brooks was found guilty of numerous crimes, including six counts of first-degree intentional homicide.
Videos posted on social media captured the moment a judge read the verdict to Brooks. “Burn in hell you piece of s**t!” one person inside the courtroom was heard yelling. According to WISN-TV in Milwaukee, the person who yelled was related to one of the victims that was killed in the incident. The local news station also reported that the man was removed from the courtroom shortly afterward, although he was not arrested or cited by police.
The verdict comes nearly a year after Brooks drove a car through the Waukesha Christmas parade, leaving six victims dead and several others injured. On November 21, Brooks drove through the parade after a dispute with his girlfriend. He fled from police but was apprehended a short time later.
At the time of the incident, Brooks was out on bail for several other crimes, and Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm previously said that the bail was “inappropriately low.”
“The bail recommendation in this case is not consistent with the approach of the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office toward matters involving violent crime, nor was it consistent with the risk assessment of the defendant prior to the setting of bail,” Chisholm said last year.
Prior to the verdict reached on Wednesday, Brooks represented himself and initially pleaded not guilty to the 76 charges, saying that he suffered from a mental illness. According to the Associated Press, Brooks withdrew his plea in September.
Earlier in the trial, Brooks was seen taking his shirt off in court, and he interrupted Judge Jennifer Dorow several times.
During the closing arguments, Waukesha County District Attorney Susan Opper said, “Not one person had to be hurt that day if he would have just stopped driving.”
“He plowed through 68 different people. Sixty-eight. How can you hit one and keep going? How can you hit two and keep going? How can you hit three and keep going? It didn’t faze him a bit. He kept going until he got to the end and there were no more bodies to hit,” Opper said.
Newsweek reached out to Opper’s office for further comment following the verdict on Wednesday.
Brooks will face a mandatory life sentence in prison for each of the six counts of homicide.
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