The uncle of an 11-year-old girl plowed down by an SUV during the Wisconsin Christmas parade massacre is sharing horrific details of the aftermath and says he hopes the career criminal charged in the ambush is jailed for life.
U.S. Army veteran Ryan Kohnke – whose niece Jessalyn Torres remains on a ventilator a week after the attack – said he wants Darrell Brooks Jr. properly punished for allegedly killing six people and wounding 62 others.
‘I hope he spends the rest of his jail in isolation,’ Kohnke told Fox News’ Justice with Judge Jeanine. ‘I don’t think he’ll ever see general population because they’re afraid of what might happen to him.’
Kohnke said he was standing at the sidelines of the November 21 parade in Waukesha and watched helplessly as a red SUV broke through a safety barricade and barreled into the crowd.
Jessalyn, who was participating in the parade with the Waukesha Xtreme Dance group, had just passed through and Kohnke’s thoughts soon turned to his family’s safety as a man in the SUV began mowing down the crowd.
‘After I [saw] that he continued down the parade route, I became very afraid for their lives,’ he said.
Her uncle, US Army veteran Ryan Kohnke said he wants Darrell Brooks Jr. properly punished for the Christmas parade massacre, which killed six people and wounded 62 others
Jessalyn Torres, 11, pictured, one of nine kids injured in the November 21 crash, suffered a broken pelvis and femur, a fractured skull, lacerations to her lungs, and lost a kidney
He and his daughters raced to the aid of Jessalyn, who was accompanied by her sisters and mom.
‘My daughters, what they seen was indescribable,’ Kohnke said. ‘It was what you hear from veterans. There was bodies everywhere, there was clothes everywhere, everybody was screaming ‘oh my God,’ yelling for their children, yelling for their loved ones.’
Brooks, 39, was free on $1,000 bail when he allegedly careered into the parade November 21
Brooks, 39, was free on $1,000 bail when he allegedly careered into the parade and was initially charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, a charge that carries a mandatory life sentence if convicted.
He’s expected to face more charges after Jackson Sparks, an
