Aug. 13, 2024

A Community's Nightmare: The 2021 Waukesha Parade Attack

Show Notes
Transcript

In the heart of Wisconsin, the festive Waukesha Christmas parade turned into a scene of unimaginable tragedy. As a community gathered to celebrate and find joy after a challenging year, one man’s violent rampage left a trail of devastation. In this episode, we delve into the harrowing events of that day in 2021, uncovering the dark history of Darrell Edward Brooks Jr. From his troubled past to the shocking attack that stunned the nation, join us as we explore the details, the aftermath, and the community's remarkable resilience. Tune in for a gripping, in-depth look at a tragedy that shook Waukesha to its core.

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Waukeshaw Milwaukee, the third most populated county in the state

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of Wisconsin and also known as Guitar Town because they

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are the home of Les Paul, pioneer of the electric guitar,

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and they have a fantastic annual tradition. Each year, the

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city hosts a festive Christmas parade to showcase local town

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tallent community projects and to mark the official start of

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the holiday season. This tradition has gone on for over

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sixty years and only ever took a break in twenty

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twenty because, of course, of the pandemic. Twenty twenty one

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saw the much awaited return of the parade, and it

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came with a focus bringing the community back together after

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the uncertain and troubling times that we had all just

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been through. The theme that year really cemented the feeling

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and the hope that everyone had that the pandemic was

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finally behind us. The theme was comfort and Joy. But

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around four to thirty on the evening of the Christmas

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Parade in twenty twenty one, a red Ford Escape SUV

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came hurtling down the street. A police officer, noticing that

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the car was heading straight for the parade, tried to

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stop it. He first banged on the hood and tried

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to get the driver's attention, and then he opened fire.

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But the driver drove on, bursting through the barricades and

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swa wringing the car side to side, causing the number

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of hit victims to rise much higher than it would

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have been if he had only driven straight through. As

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the crowd scrambled, some of them screaming, some of them

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crying in pain and shock, the driver sat in his seat,

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calm and composed, seemingly oblivious to the growing carnage around

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him that he had just caused. That man was thirty

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nine year old Darrel Edward Brooks Junior, a born and

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raised Milwaukee residence with the troubling past. His criminal record

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dated back to nineteen ninety nine, when Darrel was only seventeen,

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and every year seemed to bring with it a new entry.

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Part of the reason behind Daryl's extensive criminal record came

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from his mental health. He'd been diagnosed as having bipolar

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disorder at the age of twelve and had been living

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with it ever since. After his diagnosis, Darrell dropped out

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of high school and was arrested shortly after for d

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anchel battery. This was a felony and got Daryl a

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two year sentence in jail, with a three year probationary

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period to follow. In two thousand and six, he was

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sentenced to twelve to thirty six months for sexual seduction

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after he got a fifteen year old girl pregnant in Sparks, Nevada.

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A warrant from Sparks for further sexual charges was outstanding

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for his arrest at the time that he was on

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his way to the parade in twenty twenty one. By

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twenty twenty, Darrel's crimes had turned more violent. He was

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arrested and charged with second degree recklessly endangering safety and

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for being a felon in possession of a firearm after

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an incident where he allegedly shot at his nephew. Darrel

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had supposedly reached for the gun after a dispute over

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a cell phone. Darrel was actually still waiting to go

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to trial for this case, but the ongoing pandemic had

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stretched the court system and his trial was delayed. He

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was released on a reduced bail for only five hundred

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dollars at the beginning of twenty twenty one. Only a

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few months after that, Darrell was in trouble with the

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law again. This time a witness had overheard Darrell beating

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up his ex girlfriend in the room next door at

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the Country Hearth Inn. Allegedly, during this assault, Darrell flashed

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his gun to his ex girlfriend and warning, but the

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witness that reported the incident didn't see that for himself. Instead,

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the witness confronted Darrel, which resulted in another arrest and

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Darrel spending another night behind bars. Darrel was due in

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court for this case as well, but he would be

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arrested again before that could happen. On November tecond, twenty

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twenty one, Darrel attacked his ex girlfriend yet again. This

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time he punched her and then ran her over with

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his car in a chilling foreshadowing of what was to come.

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Only weeks later, he was arrested and charged again with

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second degree recklessly and dangering safety, but he posted his

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one thousand dollars bail and was out On November nineteenth,

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Now only forty eight hours stood before him and the

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parade where he would turn so many lives upside down.

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After plowing through the crowds at the parade, Darrell abandoned

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his truck and fled the scene. On foot, He slipped

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through the cracks in the resulting chaos and managed to

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make it away unseen. He then knocked on a random

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front door and pretended he was homeless. The homeowner who

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answered the door took pity on Darrell. The homeowner hadn't

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heard about the attack on the parade just yet, and

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so he trusted Darrell. He invited him in, offered him

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his phone so that Darrell could call an uber, made

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him a sandwich, and let him borrow a coat, But

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he realized that something was wrong when the police showed

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up on his doorstep. After that, the homeowner asked Darrell

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to leave, and Darrell surrendered himself to the police without

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a fight. Residents and law enforcement were left in total

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disbelief and shock over what happened. They first, just like

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the homeowner had that evening, tried to give Darrell the

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benefit of the doubt. Maybe it was possible that this

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had all been an accident. Maybe he'd been running from

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someone or something and had driven into the crowd in

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a panic. It certainly looked like he didn't actually know

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any one in the parade and therefore had not been

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targeting any one in particular. But it was Darrell's own

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actions that spoke out against him. Upon entering the crowd,

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Darrell had swung his car from side to side in

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a zigzag pattern, and the prosecution argued that that could

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only mean one thing. Darrell had intentionally been trying to

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hit as many people as possible. Five people died at

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the scene, most of them being women who had been

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in the parade as part of a dancing group called

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the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies. Sixty two people were injured, and

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around seventeen children were among them. The final nail in

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Darrell's coffin came days later, when an eight year old

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bo succumb to his injuries. In court, Darrel and his

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family tried to defend his actions. They argued that Daryl

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wasn't responsible for his actions because of his bipolar disorder.

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Daryl's grandmother testified that his condition was going untreated because

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Darrel didn't have insurance to cover his medical bills, but

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the courts disagreed. Speaking with tears in her eyes, Waukeshaw

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Circuit Court Judge Jennifer Doro addressed the defendant. There are

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times when evil people do bad things. There's no medication

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or treatment for a heart that is bent on evil.

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Some people, unfortunately choose a path of evil, and mister Brooks,

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I think you are one of those people. The judge

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then imposed six consecutive life sentences, one for each and

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every victim that Daryl killed that day, without the possibility

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of parole. For each of those sixty one counts of

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reckless endangerment, a charge that Darrell had already faced twice before,

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or she sentenced him to seven hundred sixty two years

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in prison with three hundred five years of unsupervised parole

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for the six counts of hit and run that came

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from the six victims he'd killed. She gave him a

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one hundred fifty year sentence that was to run concurrently

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with the seven hundred sixty two that he was to

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serve for the previous charges. The sentencing was read to

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massive applause in the courtroom. With a number of years

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Darrell was to serve and with no possibility that he

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would ever be paroled. The community believed that justice had

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been done, but there was still kindness to spread so

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that the healing could truly begin for those actions his

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actions that day. A GoFundMe campaign raised an initial nine

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hundred thousand dollars for victims of the attack. A further

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one point eight million dollars was raised for the United

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for Wickshaw Community Fund, and local contractors volunteered their services

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to install wheelchair ramps for those left injured after the

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attack for free. Just four months later, and the total

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amount raised to help the victims and their families stood

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at six point two million dollars, proving just how eager

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the community and the country were to do what they

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could to help ease the pain and suffering. That is

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ten Minute Murder for today brief and binge able true crime.

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My name is Joe. I'm the host, and thank you

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you're a new listener, welcome in. Make sure you hit subscribe.

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Everyone else social media, I'm sure you've got it. Follow

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pop up, or you can use in the show notes.

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I've got some links for you there. And I need

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to tell you there's something I did not mention in

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that episode, the absolutely unhinged behavior of Darryl Brooks in

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the courtroom. He was trying to represent himself and doing

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a very poor job of it. It was insane. It's

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literally insane. He's got mental health problems, and I'm no

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way making light of that. I'm not sure how they

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allowed it to go on so long, but I didn't

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want to inject that into the story because I thought

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it would kind of derail this story a little bit.

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But I will post some of those clips of his

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behavior in the courtroom. I'll put them on social media.

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So go ahead and follow any place that you use

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social media and you'll see those clips. But it's completely

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shocking if you haven't seen it already, which by there's

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a chance that you have. But if you haven't seen

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it already, you're going to be shocked by the behavior

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that he was getting away with for a time. All right,

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that's going to do it. That is your episode for

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it today. Oh I didn't mentioned the website. If you've

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got any questions about the podcast, if you'd like to

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get in touch with me, all the information about ten

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Minute Murder lives at ten Minute Murdered. You can go

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there for all the things. And now your episode is complete.

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If you're off to binge the next one, don't let

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me stop. You move right along. If not, I hope

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you have a great day. Thanks bye,

A Community's Nightmare: The 2021 Waukesha Parade Attack

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