Beloved 'dancing grannies' among those killed after driver plows through Wisconsin Christmas parade

[riversedge]

Source: msn.com




Jennifer Hassan - 1h ago



The only requirement for joining the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies is to be a grandmother. Each year, the award-winning group performs in more than 20 parades, shuffling through streets and shaking their pompoms which are sometimes silver, sometimes gold.


The grannies say their mission is to entertain audiences, which is what brought them to Waukesha’s Christmas parade — before a driver in an SUV plowed through the parade, killing at least five people and injuring 40.

Some grannies were killed in the chaos, the group said in a statement shared to Facebook Monday, although it was not immediately clear how many had lost their lives.

5 dead, more than 40 injured after SUV plows into crowd at Christmas parade in Wisconsin
The group said it was “devastated” by the incident that took place about 20 miles west of Milwaukee. Police have not provided a motive for the crash.

“Waukesha here we come!!!” read a post published by the grannies to their Facebook, page just hours before the casualties were reported.
.............................................

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/beloved-dancing-grannies-among-those-killed-after-driver-plows-through-wisconsin-christmas-parade/ar-AAR01iu?cvid=ced4915ebda840adafa6db1775cf771f&ocid=winp1taskbar

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I saw them in a parade a few years back. So horrible for them and their fans and families--and all impacted by this senseless scene.

[onecaliberal]

1. Why isn't the motive being released?

[onenote]

2. because this isn't TV and crimes aren't resolved in an hour.

[onecaliberal]

4. Do you feel better now? Thank you for telling me this was reality and not tv.

I never would have known. How in gods name have I done without your commentary all my life?

The driver is alive and talking. It’s not rocket science.

[onenote]

7. How do you know he's talking?

Investigations take time and need to be done patiently.
I'm sorry if that doesn't fit with your desire for instant gratification.

And if you knew this, why did you post your original question?

[ZonkerHarris]

35. Please share the source you are using that says the driver is "talking." I ask because on the

internet there is a trend of people talking about shit without any facts to back it up.
Please share these facts you are so sure of that I have not seen any mention at all in the media.

[Boxerfan]

5. No motive other than escape.

Seems the driver was fleeing from another crime & went down the parade route un-intentionally.

In the video he weaves past the people in the parade but when the road is blocked by a marching band he just plowed through.

Whatever he did in his previous crime he is now guilty of many counts of murder. I hope he gets death.

[onecaliberal]

11. Thank you.

[AngryOldDem]

13. Should be enhanced to felony murder, if he was fleeing from another crime.

At least that is my understanding of the concept.

[Crepuscular]

15. ...

No death penalty in Wisconsin.

[TexasBushwhacker]

21. I read somewhere that the previous crime

he was fleeing from involved a knife.

[honest.abe]

24. Looks that way to me too.

He could have killed alot more if that was his only motive. He clearly was avoiding people where he could.

[Devil Child]

37. Plenty of escape routes that didn't take his SUV into the parade

around a blocking Shriner parade car. Then line up on he group of dancing child and elderly parade goers. Accelerate into them and through them. Then make a dashing escape back home to reverse into the drive way and await police. Statement made and statement heard. This was a deliberate attack based on everything I know about him, his history, his music, and social media content.

[ripcord]

41. All the deceased were over 50

They probably didn't have the mobility to get out of the way.

[JI7]

50. Has this been confirmed ? That he was escaping from another crime ?

And what that crime was ?

[Wicked Blue]

9. I suspect the city and police department are worried about potential liability

This is my best guess:

From the little pieces of information I've seen here and there, it would seem the driver of the SUV was fleeing from the scene of an earlier knife fight or stabbing. It isn't clear whether he was being pursued by police or not. But if he was being chased by the police, it is possible that the city may face numerous lawsuits from the horrible deaths and injuries at the parade.

If this is the case, they are carefully going over every bit of evidence and statements and police body cameras with the city attorneys.

[AllyCat]

22. There was a video at NYT of police pursuing him through the parade route

It was only a few seconds and now has been taken down.

[Corgigal]

36. I saw that too.

A bunch of lawyers are reviewing if they should have broken off the pursuit. That is a commanders call. Bad guy still may have turned down the parade route, but if he was in pursuit, this all becomes a cluster.

[AkFemDem]

10. It's been less than 24 hours, this is the investigation phase

But we know from his rap sheet this guy is a serious offender, with a long list of both property and violent crimes, he’s a convicted domestic abuser, he’s a drug dealer, he’s had charges related to cocaine and meth in the past, he’s been violent toward police. He’s exactly the kind of person who would stab someone in a fight and then plow into a parade full of children and grandmothers.

“I’m shocked! He was such a nice guy!” Probably isn’t going to be coming out of the mouths of his neighbors.

[FarPoint]

16. Where did you get that information?

Or, is this just speculation?

[wnylib]

19. I wondered about that, too, from another thread.

So I looked up his name and discovered that he has a long rap sheet, although I didn't find many specifics on his crimes.

[AllyCat]

23. Some bot on social media keeps posting this and I cannot find ANY

reputable source.

[2Gingersnaps]

31. Yep, there is already a criminal history on Twitter this morning

but the poster was a RWNJ so I deleted it. The knee jerk politicizing is harmful......and damn insulting to the injured and dead. Grannies, school kids, it was a Christmas parade for FFS. I would love the cops to dot their i's and cross their t's and take the time to do it right.

[ZonkerHarris]

38. From this article in the WASHINGTON POST...

he has quite a rap sheet.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/22/waukesha-parade-wisconsin-suv-crowd-suspect/

[AllyCat]

25. Actually, I believe you should delete this comment

Channel 3000 saying this comes from 2 cops speaking anonymously. That is not reliable information.

[Polybius]

29. CNN said they think the driver was fleeing another scene

From the link:

There are indications the driver was fleeing another incident when he drove into the parade route, according to multiple law enforcement sources familiar with preliminary investigation findings.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/22/us/waukesha-car-parade-crowd-monday/index.html

[Skittles]

42. from what I have read

it sounds like a long-time mentally unstable chronic offender with anger issues

I feel a bit guilty for initially wondering with horror if this was some kind of revenge thing for that double-murdering fascist POS in Wisconsin.

[Old Okie]

3. Parade

Am I the only confused on why they were having Christmas Parade before Thanksgiving?? Other than that it was a tragic event and was wondering if a police chase was involved since some of the reporting suggests the car was fleeing.

[madville]

6. Probably tradition due to the weather

I doubt anyone wants to have a parade in Wisconsin in late December.

[onenote]

8. Decades long tradition of kicking off the holiday season the Sunday before T-Giving.

I suppose they could call it a Thanksgiving parade, like the Macy's parade, but even the Macy's parade, while held on Thanksgiving, is really a Christmas parade.

[AngryOldDem]

12. A lot of holiday events happen around Thanksgiving now.

Weather may have something to do with it, but it’s a trend I’ve been noticing. After Halloween, basically, it’s the holidays.

Police fired a shot to try to get the car to stop. Desperate move, IMO.

[Jimbo S]

14. Too cold in the Midwest in December

Heck, it's cold in November. That's why I have only attended this parade once. That and I'm not in Christmas mood in November.

It became quite blustery here in the afternoon. Not a good day to be outside.

[geardaddy]

18. Not true

I live in Minneapolis and we have nightly holiday parades up until Christmas.

[wnylib]

20. But those Minnesota Scandinavians

are used to Arctic weather.

My western NY city has a Xmas parade each year on the first Friday evening in December. Usually too cold for me but the route goes past my apartment building so I watch from the window, with my cat, who gets fascinated by the hoopla in the street.

[geardaddy]

28. We're not all Scandinavian here in MN.

[wnylib]

39. Of course not. But anyone else

living there surely gets adapted to temperatures that are often the coldest in the country.

[geardaddy]

40. This much is true.

Though the older I get the less I like the cold.

[Polybius]

30. Judging from the replies, why yes

You are.

[2Gingersnaps]

32. Santa Claus coming to town?

I remember the holiday parade when I was a kid, but the town I moved too after I grew up and married was rural and didn't have the big event.

[jvill]

17. Presumably the driver will plead self-defense, no?

...

[calimary]

26. The whole thing leaves me feeling overwhelmed.

Maybe it’s the confluence of this horrible tragedy with the two trials of individuals who I frankly consider to be reckless murdering schmucks (YOU, TOO, Kyle R).

[Coventina]

27. Off topic: Lame that you have to be a grandmother to join.

You can't just be an older woman who likes to dance?

[tanyev]

33. I wondered about that, too.

Probably because I am a childless woman old enough to be a grandmother who likes to dance.

[Coventina]

34. Same

Not only do you have to reproduce, but your children have to reproduce as well?

Seems needlessly exclusive, IMHO.

[Withywindle]

56. Yeah. My mom's an old lady who likes to dance

I'd feel bad if she wanted to and couldn't join this group because of a choice I made, not her!

[Skittles]

43. yes, that does seem needlessly discriminatory

ya know?

[Coventina]

44. Agreed! It's not only a personal choice of yours to have children.

But also a personal choice of someone else (your children)!

[AngryOldDem]

45. It's their group. BUT, with that said...

Becoming a grandmother seems to be some kind of status symbol for older women, of whom I am one, and who for various reasons will most likely never be a grandparent unless it’s from beyond the grave. And I’m OK with that. My kids are making choices that are best for them, and I would never dare to harangue them about it.

I work with a woman who never fails to STFU about her grandkids and how great they are, almost on a daily basis. She makes a point of letting us know that most of her time off is spent with them, and about everything she does with and for them. I have to watch as she scrolls through her phone showing endless pictures. She talks loudly about how great it is to be a grandma. I get the love, I get the pride, but after awhile it’s feels like it’s a game of self-centered, insecure, one-upmanship and it gets old and boring. It’s like when some of them were younger and they shat on the unpopular kids or gloated that they made the sorority when others didn’t. At times it seems grandparenting is just another clique.

I’m sure the Grannies are fine people, but I really think that this feeling of “special status” is what drives groups like this to some degree. As much as it all really rolls off my back most days, sometimes it does sting. It’s kind of like an extension of how some in society see childless couples, whether that’s by their choice or not.

[Coventina]

47. I have seen this trend myself, and I agree completely. N/T

[yardwork]

48. I've noticed this myself.

[milestogo]

53. Vicarious living.

I find it annoying as well. But some moms are are like that too.

[JI7]

49. i'm guessing if you are a certain age you can join

The term "grandmother" could just be to give it a more affectionate term rather than "elderly ladies" or something like that.

[AngryOldDem]

51. No.

The group explicitly says you have to be a grandmother.

[Devil Child]

52. Lame that this is being discussed after 5 of their members were murdered

They are grandmothers no more, they will dance no more, their families and friends will never have another day with them. I respectfully disagree with this shift from the OP.

May they Rest In Peace.

[Coventina]

54. Well, you are free to alert on it if it offends you so. n/t

[AngryOldDem]

55. It's clearly marked "Off Topic."

Did you not see that? Long threads here often have sidebars.

[myohmy2]

46. sad...

...and senseless...

...