Milwaukee local Darrell Edward Brooks Jr., 39, was taken into custody after an SUV driver ploughed through a Christmas parade in suburban Milwaukee, killing at least five people and injuring more than 40, the police said on Monday.

During the incident the car barrelled into 20 cheerleaders, dancers and musicians at the 58th Annual Waukesha Holiday Parade.

Brooks had only been out on bail for two days after being arrested on 5 November on charges of domestic abuse, resisting an officer, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, disorderly conduct and felony bail jumping. His criminal record dates back to 1999, according to Independent reports.

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In the other case, filed in July 2020, Brooks is charged with reckless endangering and illegal possession of a firearm.

Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson gave no immediate details about the person in custody or any possible motive. Thompson said that he did not know if the driver was hit by the officer’s bullets but that no bystanders were wounded.

Thompson further said his department had detained a suspect and seized the red Ford Escape driven in the incident but that he did not yet know whether the driver’s actions had any connection to terrorism.

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Corey Montiho, an eyewitness, told The Washington Post that he saw the driver behind the wheel and noted that he remained “calm and composed” as he drove into the marchers, whose hopes of kickstarting the holiday season ended in horror.

Brooks is prolific on social media and is known to rap under the name of MathBoi Fly. A vehicle similar to the one involved in the Waukesha attack is visible in “Half a Tikket”, one of his music videos on YouTube.

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Waukesha is a western suburb of Milwaukee, and about 55 miles (90 kilometres) north of Kenosha, where Kyle Rittenhouse was acquitted Friday of charges stemming from the fatal shooting of two men and the wounding of a third during unrest in that city in August 2020.

With inputs from the Associated Press