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More Than 20 People Injured After Car Runs Through Holiday Parade. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired November 21, 2021 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[20:00:00]

KAYLEE STARAL, WITNESS, BUSINESS REPORTING INTERN, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL: What was going on, so kind of a big mix of everything going on.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Understandably. And I know as a journalist you want to share the story but you also need to take care of yourself and process this. Did you know anyone that was injured in this?

STARAL: Well, I don't. I had actually just moved from Illinois to Waukesha over the summer so I'm home for Thanksgiving from college and so we wanted to go to the parade so I don't know anyone. Yes.

BROWN: And when you saw this unfolding, did it look like the car was intentionally trying to hit people or did it just look like the car was going really fast and just ended up hitting people but it wasn't necessary targeted? Could you tell?

STARAL: I can't tell you for sure, for sure. It was going very fast. And it was in the middle of the parade and so it's hard to say that they didn't know what they were doing. Of course I don't want to say this is intentional or not because I don't know. But it -- you know, it seems like they did know what was happening.

BROWN: OK. Thank you so much again, Kaylee, for sharing your story. Is there anything else you think is important to convey about what you experienced?

STARAL: Just the people to keep watching the news and stay up to date with the police because they have the most recent information and I just -- I'm really hoping that everyone affected is doing OK and hanging in there.

BROWN: Certainly our hearts and prayers are with them as more than 20 people injured from this horrific event with the car plowing through the holiday parade as you said there. People were enjoying themselves, for many it was their first time out since the pandemic and then this. It is horrific.

Thank you again, Kaylee.

STARAL: Thank you.

BROWN: And if you're just joining us, we are following breaking news out of Waukesha, Wisconsin. At least 20 people are injured after a vehicle plowed into a crowd of people -- vehicle rather plowed to a crowd of people gathered to march and watch a holiday parade. Minutes ago, we heard from city officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR SHAWN REILLY, WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN: Tonight was a traumatic night for the city of Waukesha. We don't all have details. We can't provide details at this point but we will have a press conference at 7:30 and to speak now is our police chief, Dan Thompson.

CHIEF DAN THOMPSON, WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN POLICE: Good evening. Approximately 4:39 p.m., and I'll just give a brief summery and do a formal briefing at 7:30 but at 4:39 p.m., a red SUV drove into our Christmas parade that we're holding downtown. More than 20 individuals were injured as a result of this incident. We -- the Waukesha Police Department has recovered the suspect's vehicle. It's an ongoing investigation.

Victims were actually transported from the scene via ambulance. Officers actually transported some of the injured personnel and took them to the hospitals and some victims were actually transported by family and friends to the hospital. Very tragic incident, very chaotic. There is no other threats involved. We -- the scene is now safe. Again it's very tragic. And my prayers and thoughts go out to the family members. And we'll give a formal briefing at 7:30. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Do you have a suspect?

THOMPSON: We have a person of interest that we are looking into it at this time?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: In custody?

THOMPSON: Like I said, we have a person of interest. I have to get more information because I don't want to give you bad information, OK? So thank you.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: As the police chief said a news conference is planned minutes from now and we're going to bring that to you live, of course. We're also getting new video from an eyewitness.

It shows a red SUV speeding through the parade barriers and an officer there was right behind it. Here is another view of a red SUV. The SUV barreling down the parade route just as the marching band is stepping out of frame. One witness you may have just heard told me that she could hear the thud of people being struck and that police on the scene told her as many as 30 were injured, but again, we heard actually from the police chief himself.

[20:05:03]

He said more than 20 people were injured from this horrific incident there in Waukesha, Wisconsin. And we just got this statement from the governor of Wisconsin, Tony Evers. "Kathy and I are praying for Waukesha tonight and all the kids, families and community members affected by this senseless act. I am grateful for the first responder and folks who acted quickly to help and we are in contact with local partners as we await more information."

And we also have this tweet from Wisconsin Senator Tammy Baldwin. "The horrific violence of Waukesha Christmas parade is just heartbreaking. Please keep the victims in your prayers tonight."

And joining me now to further discuss, CNN national security analyst and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security, Juliette Kayyem. Also with me former acting Baltimore police commissioner Anthony Barksdale.

Juliette, to start with you again as we wait for more information to try to piece this together and we do expect this press conference to start around 30 minutes or so from now but we did hear from the police chief some really important information that they believe they have found the vehicle that they are looking into a person of interest and that he said there is no ongoing threat and that the scene is secure. What do you make from all of that?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So that, putting those pieces together they know exactly who they're looking for. That person may or may not have been known to the police before but is certainly known to them now. That person is not part of some bigger, larger effort that they're worried about whether it'd be affiliation with other groups or organizations that may also be violent so someone like me listens to that and I start to see silver lining amongst some really bad news.

So whether they have that person or that person is running, they clearly know who exactly that is. So that now narrows the search and it may also narrow motivation, which is really clear right now. So you have that piece with what happened in terms of the culprit and the potential motivation and then you have of course the tragedy of a parade being hit and I heard about 30 victims.

We did not hear any confirmation of casualties. Once again these are the things that we listen for. So we may get some more specific news in about 23 minutes but that also is something that, you know, silver lining again makes me happy in terms of if we don't have a large death count that's good news amongst bad. And that's I think what we look at for incidents like this at this stage. So I think we'll be able to close this out in terms of both who it is and then what the extent of the harm is to that community probably within the next hour or so.

BROWN: Anthony Barksdale, I want to bring you in. What is your reaction to that information and what does that entail when you hear the police chief say they are looking into a person of interest? What is going on right now behind the scenes?

ANTHONY BARKSDALE, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: OK. If an officer runs your license plate, you ask for a listing. That listing is going to provide an address that the vehicle comes back to. Then the officers can go and figure out who was driving the vehicle if they don't already know. So now we're in the state where we're moving to look for the suspect. I'm not sure, we don't know if shots were fired.

If shots were fired, then I want SWAT doing this part of the procedure with detectives. If shots weren't fired then any police officer can help knock on a door, do an area canvass because if the individual isn't with the truck if you form a perimeter, you search in that perimeter, you walk into that area. Was it a bailout? Did he walk to an address? Did he or she walk to an address? We don't know but this is the phase where police are thinking let's make an arrest. Let's find this person and put him in handcuffs, him or her in handcuffs.

BROWN: And I'm wondering, just picking up on the language used person of interest, he did not say suspect. Do you think that's because they may know who owns this vehicle but they don't know if the owner is in fact the person behind this, Juliette?

KAYYEM: Yes, that's exactly right. So they -- everyone -- we know who owns that car. The driver's license is known. There are so many pictures of the car at this stage but who is behind the wheel is not known. So the person of interest may be the same person or simply the owner could be a family member, a child, your adult child who was doing something with the car. So once again, these work themselves out relatively quickly as we've seen over the course of a lot of these in terms of identifying who's the owner and then who may have been driving at the time.

[20:10:12]

And then where they might be, so that -- those will limit the investigation in terms of where motivation can take us because once again, let's just all be, let's all pause about motivation. We simply just still do not know. It looks horrific, it looks purposeful. We simply do not know.

BROWN: We don't. I've covered enough tragedies in my career as a journalist where what you think you knew in the beginning, at the end it was a very different situation and so we do want to sort of hold on that judgment but we have clues and of course part of the clues we're working off of are these videos that are coming in of red SUV who eyewitnesses say they saw the red SUV go down and hit people fast. I mean, hit people and was going very fast.

One eyewitness said at least 30 miles per hour from what she could gather. How important are these videos, Anthony, for investigators?

BARKSDALE: They're very important. It's evidence. Social media over and over again is helping police. Law enforcement solved crimes so the public's participation in posting of incidents like this are very helpful to law enforcement.

BROWN: All right. We'll be -- are going to be talking to an eyewitness later on. I know eyewitnesses are also very important to law enforcement as well to try to piece together how this all happened.

Anthony, Juliette, stand by because we're going to need you again. We are waiting for this press conference there in Waukesha, Wisconsin, to happen at around 8:30 Eastern Time. And our breaking news continues after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:16:05]

BROWN: Still more questions than answers about what happened this evening in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Chaos erupted during the city's annual holiday parade when a red SUV ripped through the crowds of marchers and spectators and then broke through barricades set up along the parade route.

Police say at least 20 people were injured. They also say they have recovered the vehicle that was involved and they have a person of interest. They are looking into they say but so far, other details are scarce and we are awaiting a press conference set to start in just a few minutes and we hope to get more information then.

Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson just tweeted, "My thoughts and prayers for everyone injured in Waukesha's Christmas parade. My gratitude for all law enforcement, medical personnel, and community members who are responding."

Our CNN's Natasha Chen is on the scene in Waukesha and minutes ago she joined us with a live interview of a woman who witnessed the horrifying incident unfold.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, it's really crucial for people to hear that there's no longer a threat. One of the people who saw this happened is Angela O'Boyle.

I just met you, Angela, because you were down -- you actually live in the apartment complex where the window overlooks the parade and you saw this happened. Tell me about that moment. You stepped out on your balcony to watch the parade.

ANGELA O'BOYLE, WITNESS: Well, I was watching it for my kids, saying I wished you were here. And then the next thing I heard were screams, and turned my head and saw the car come and plow into the band that was just past my balcony at that point. It hit at least two people right away, rolled over both of them, and then continued down the road to by, like, People's Park which is at the end of the block and then kept going. It didn't stop. And he did not stop at all or she, whoever it was. But it kept going.

CHEN: Did you hear gunshots as well?

O'BOYLE: I did not. Everyone says that but I did not hear anything. All I heard was screaming and that people yelling out their children's names. That's all I heard.

CHEN: This marching band that you saw that this car had ran into, you said this was a high school marching band? What kind of marching band? O'BOYLE: I don't know. I missed the beginning. I virtually just

stepped outside, picked up my phone, hit record and then all this happened. It was perfect timing.

CHEN: Yes. So this is obviously, really, really horrible to see. What was going through your mind when you heard the screams, you saw the car? What did you think was happening?

O'BOYLE: The parents and kids. I couldn't imagine mine being down there, myself or anybody else that I know. It was not something I wanted to see and the people who've watched the video I took are also shaking and just can't believe it. So a little freaked out.

CHEN: The people you saw that got hit, were they young? Were they old?

O'BOYLE: They looked young to me. I don't know, though, because again I was five stories up. So I have no idea exactly ages. But it was a band of some sort and that's all I know.

CHEN: And just to explain where we are, you were watching this from the corner of Main and Barstow.

O'BOYLE: Correct. Barstow and Main.

CHEN: And do you know if this was sort of the early part of the parade? Were you watching the middle of it?

O'BOYLE: I don't know. I don't know. I came home in the middle of the parade is what I'm guessing. Stepped outside because I was annoyed I couldn't get home fast and then, was like oh, it's a Christmas parade and then, oh, God, here comes a guy plowing everybody down. So I had no -- I don't know what portion of the parade it was in at all.

CHEN: Did you think right after this happened that, you know, there could be a further threat? Were you frightened at the moment?

O'BOYLE: I was a little shook up, yes, for sure. But didn't know what was happening because people were saying gunshots. I didn't hear any gunshots. So I'm not sure what to expect so I just closed my door and went back inside and waited until it was a little bit clear and went down and talked to the police.

CHEN: OK. So you stayed inside just in case there was a threat of someone firing shots?

O'BOYLE: Yes, I didn't know what to expect so yes, I stayed inside until everything was cleared up.

CHEN: And I know you told me you don't know anyone that you know who was perhaps at the parade. Does that make you nervous right now not knowing if certain people you know are OK?

[20:20:09]

O'BOYLE: I'm assuming my friends are all OK. I was looking at Facebook and no one is saying that they're injured or family members are injured that I know personally but I don't know who was here and who wasn't.

CHEN: How fast did you see and hear response from police and ambulance?

O'BOYLE: They were running down the street before he even hit the people. They were already behind him because he hit them -- I think this is the middle of the parade maybe, or portion of (INAUDIBLE), but they were already running after him. So it was instant that the crowd ran into the people who were injured as well.

CHEN: So you saw a lot of people jump into action right away even though they were frightened, there were screams but people were really helping immediately.

O'BOYLE: Yes, yes, for sure. Everybody was. People grabbed people and brought them into our building, too, so yes. Everybody helped. That was down there. So.

CHEN: What did you see as far as people brought into your building?

O'BOYLE: I just saw them when they were leaving. My neighbor took some people in to get them off the street so that they could do their job and then we all walked out together and we shared our videos with the police. And that was the end of that.

CHEN: What does this feel like to you right now, just to try to process what you saw?

O'BOYLE: It's bizarre. I've never seen anything like it and it just happened to be right time, right place for the video that I took and not something I ever want to see again.

CHEN: And I think that you mentioned that the screams that you heard, the parents calling out their kids' names.

O'BOYLE: Yes.

CHEN: That's what kind of sticks with you.

O'BOYLE: That happened after. When the car hit everybody on the left side and the band members kind of all ran to the right and down the block and around the block, then you saw the parents coming from up the block screaming for their kids who either didn't come through the parade yet or in it. I don't know.

CHEN: OK. I know that you've been through a lot today and --

O'BOYLE: Not me. Not as much as those people.

CHEN: That's true. It is also very cold so I'm going to let Angela go here. But this is obviously a very shocking event for everyone.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: It is indeed. And joining me now is Angelito Tenorio. He is an eyewitness. Angelito, tell us what you experienced today. I'm so sorry you had to

go through that.

ANGELITO TENORIO, EYEWITNESS: Good evening. Thank you for having me. So I'm an alderman at the city of West Allis not too far from Waukesha, and a candidate for Wisconsin state treasurer so I was marching in the parade with Waukesha County Democrats and after we had finished the route, my family and I and my campaign manager we decided we wanted to circle back and go ahead back to Main Street to watch the rest of the parade, grab some food.

But as we were heading back to Main Street, I saw an SUV speeding along the parade route and then all of a sudden heard a loud bang and then I heard deafening cries, screams from people in attendance, people marching in the parade. Folks are running away from the scene and folks were left their belongings behind holding on to their kids running away from Main Street where the parade was and then when the crowd cleared out, it looked like that there were people on the ground who were struck by the vehicle.

And then it happened all so quickly and then first responders came in, ambulances, police officers came in, and secured the area, but it was truly horrifying and shocking and very saddening and upsetting.

BROWN: Because you were in the parade, it was celebratory as we have heard from other eyewitnesses. You go through the parade route. And then this happens. What was going through your mind as this mayhem was unfolding?

TENORIO: I was truly horrified. Like, the energy at the parade before everything happened was celebratory. This is a huge event in the city of Waukesha. Folks were -- I was really impressed by the turnout and people came together to celebrate but when I saw the vehicle speed and when I heard that loud bang, I was in shock. I'm still a bit shaken. It was -- and a lot of uncertainty. A lot of fear. A lot of scaredness for me and my family when this was all occurring.

BROWN: When you saw the vehicle, can you describe any more about what you saw? And I know it happened really fast and you're probably thinking about your safety and your family's safety. But what did you observe with the vehicle?

TENORIO: So I really just got a quick glimpse of that. I saw it speeding along the parade route. I heard the engine really putting the throttle down and then heard the loud bang. And then from there it happened so fast.

[20:25:01]

There was a lot -- it was a chaotic scene and it was very, very sad scene and very, very horrifying, so yes, there is lot of emotions running through folks, parents were running around the area looking for their kids, looking for their families, looking for their friends. People quickly trying to get out of the area, trying to get to safety. So there is so much going on when it all happened.

BROWN: Do you know what the loud bang was?

TENORIO: I'm not exactly sure but from what I guess, it was the vehicle striking the crowd, striking people when they were marching in the parade.

BROWN: And did you know anyone who was injured? We know more than 20 people injured. Do you know anyone?

TENORIO: No, I don't know any of the victims. I'm very lucky that my family and friends are all accounted for. So my heart is with the victims.

BROWN: The ones that were on the ground, those that you did see, were they young? Could you tell? I know there are a lot of young people in this parade.

TENORIO: It was hard to tell but it did look like there were small children who were lying on the ground. I just saw small bodies lying almost lifeless on the ground so it was really hard to tell and there was so much happening all at one time.

BROWN: It's just awful. I mean, it's just awful and we're still trying to find out more about why this happened. We know police said that they're looking into a person of interest, that they have located the vehicle but so many unanswered questions that we hope we'll get, you know, answers to coming up in this press conference.

Angelito Tenorio, I'm glad you and your family were safe. Thank you for coming on to share your story with us.

TENORIO: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Jonathan Wackrow is a CNN law enforcement analyst and corporate security consultant. He was also a Secret Service agent. And back with us is CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe. He is the former deputy director of the FBI.

Andy, let's start with you. You know, there is still a lot we don't know but we have clues coming in from the videos and from these eyewitnesses. As you piece together what unfolded, what comes to mind right now for you, Andy?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, you summed it up, Pam. There are -- we know very little at this point and the investigators and law enforcement have a long way to go. You know, that is you can think of it like the concentric rings of a target. They're going to start with the vehicle and identifying and hopefully taking into custody the operator of that vehicle and from there they start to spread out layer by layer.

So they will be looking at that person's residence. They'll get a search warrant on the residence. They'll go through it to try to uncover if there are any other, you know, hazardous devices or weapons or things like that in there. If there are anything that indicates what led this person to this point to take this sort of action. They want to interview family members. They want to interview friends, co- workers to try to understand if there are any signs that would have tipped us off to what happened today.

So there is really just an infinite range of possibilities as to what could have been behind this or what the motivations or causes were that led up to this attack but that's what they have to sort through.

BROWN: And Jonathan, I want to bring you in. They have located the car and they say a person of interest but that could mean that they have just located the owner of that vehicle, right? But the owner of that vehicle wasn't necessarily the person behind the wheel.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, again, and to Andy's point and what everyone else has been talking about this evening is that there is a lot more that we don't know than we actually do know specifically about the driver. Their intentions, you know, their motivations. Were they targeting this specific event? Were they trying to, you know, cause chaos at the parade or, you know, were they fleeing from something else?

Did they drive through that barricade and, you know, start driving down that parade route? You know, unknowingly that their intent wasn't to cause harm to that parade? Again we just don't know at this point in time --

BROWN: But --

WACKROW: Go ahead.

BROWN: Right. But, you know, and we're watching this video right now. This is actually from the city of Waukesha that they were live streaming and hopefully we can go back to the video, because, you know, it makes you think, if this was someone who set out to cause mass casualties at this parade, it's interesting that it drives by some of those who were in the parade. Right? Andy, what do you make of it? Go ahead, Jonathan.

[20:30:05]

WACKROW: Yes. I mean, I think that's a really good point, and I think that's what investigators are going to be looking at right now. And when you think about a parade route, it's, you know, it's very narrow, you have the actual parade where the parade participants are engaging and then you have the crowds. And someone that's, you know, typically trying to target and cause this chaos and try to reach a level of mass casualties, they're going to try to swerve that vehicle and hit as many people as possible, you know, going for the large masses of people.

And I just don't see that here but again it's very early. But, you know, taking -- I want to take it one step back, this type of event specifically is something that law enforcement and public safety officials have been very concerned with, you know, in recent years. We've seen multiple incidents surrounding parades and actually Christmas bazaars in Germany that, you know, where people have focused either intentionally or as an errant vehicle driving through these parades. So from an event security standpoint, this is something that should

have been at the top of the list for public safety officials in the area as they were planning for this event.

BROWN: All right, Jonathan, Andy McCabe, stay with us. Our breaking news continues after this short break as we await for more details coming from officials. There you can see the bottom of your screen there, there is a police news conference they're setting up for. We're going to be hearing from them any minute now. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:36:06]

BROWN: We're following breaking news out of Wisconsin tonight, really horrific. A car plowing at high speed through the Waukesha holiday parade injuring at least 20 people. Police say there is no longer a threat to the area and confirmed they have recovered the car involved but police would not say if anyone is in custody only that there is a person of interest looking into. Earlier I spoke to witness Kaylee Staral and here's what she told me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STARAL: We were at the parade and there were a lot of families with small children there. Probably around 20 to 30 minutes into the parade, a red SUV came running down the middle of the street. So there were a lot of screams and we almost thought maybe it was Santa, but it was a red SUV and it hit a lot of people.

After the SUV left, there were multiple people on the ground and the police came through a little bit later saying at least 30 on the ground and police said that shots were fired. I cannot confirm that for you, but that is what the police said.

BROWN: So was anything said as this was happening from the driver of this vehicle, of this red SUV, as you described? Did you hear anything? Are there any other details or color you can provide?

STARAL: No, nothing. It happened really quick. The car was going very fast. But I don't believe the driver said anything, it was a lot of screaming.

BROWN: And was it clear to you that this driver was trying to run over people?

STARAL: I couldn't tell you for sure or not, but it was going very fast. And, you know, it was in the middle of the parade. It's not like they somehow missed that there was a parade happening.

BROWN: Right. That's what I'm trying to create, this picture of. So basically you have this parade going on in Waukesha. Then suddenly this red SUV comes and again describe to us the circumstances of the parade, where the car was and so forth.

STARAL: It has been the Annual Holiday Waukesha Parade and I believe that it was on hiatus because of COVID. This is its first year back. And around 20 to 30 minutes in the downtown part of the city, there were lots of family, lots of children there, and a red SUV came running down the street, hitting, you know, a lot of the people in the parade. It probably went 30 miles per hour.

BROWN: Wow. And what did you witness when that happened in terms of it hitting people? You said that there were families there, there's children there. What did you see?

STARAL: A lot of family members with small children were running into the stores trying to get off that main street. You also saw a lot of people running up to help those that were hit. You know, right, just right in front of me in the little spot where I was sitting, probably four people were down so there were a lot of people that ran to go check on them. And I believe that the four people in front of me were still breathing but they were down, they were not moving.

BROWN: And so from what you saw, there were a lot of injured people. You don't know if any have been killed because this is still --

STARAL: I don't know.

BROWN: OK. It sounds like it was just pure mayhem.

STARAL: A lot of people in shock, a lot of people were just there for a good time to get back into the holiday season, and I think a lot of people are just in shock right now.

BROWN: Understandably. Is there anything else you want to add about what you're thinking right now, what you're feeling after going through such a horrifying experience?

STARAL: I just hope that everyone is OK. I think, you know, it is a tough situation and my heart goes out to everyone that was hit, that got inspected. And there were a lot of children there, too, who witnessed that, so I just really hope that everyone there is, you know, safe and feeling with this in the best way that they can.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[20:40:10]

BROWN: And that was Kaylee Staral speaking with me earlier. And joining me now by phone, Waukesha Alderman Don Paul Browne. He was actually in the parade.

Thank you for joining us as we try to better understand how all of this happened earlier this evening in Waukesha. If you would, walk us through what you witnessed.

DON PAUL BROWNE, WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN ALDERMAN, WAS IN THE PARADE: Hi, Pamela. I'd have to tell you my experience was a complete opposite of what you're covering. We were in the front of the parade. I was marching with the mayor and another member of the city council, and we were walking with our 125th anniversary float, and we didn't have the parade last year because of COVID but it was such a fun, festive atmosphere. I saw so many smiling faces, you know, small children, kids of all ages, you know, 1 to 99.

It was just a really great turnout and it was such a good -- you know, such a great holiday spirit and, you know, I was actually on my way home in my car, you know, I passed through the parade on the way back and got to see a few friends and watched a few of the floats but I had to come home and my wife texts me when I'm like two blocks from home, telling me what's going on and asking me if I'm safe and then I got home and she showed me the stream and it just really, you know, there's really no way to describe it.

You know, to hear those, you know, the reports just, it was just so hard to believe that an event that was just really a great way to kick off the holiday season like it is every year turned into a venue for such senseless violence. I just -- my heart goes out to all those, you know, the victims and their families but also all those young children and all those people that witnessed all of it. You know I was watching some of the videos on the news and I really couldn't bring myself to watch it all, you know, in its entirety.

It's just so sad and usually our family, just about our whole family is there, you know, there is usually one or two kids marching in it and another one that watches it with my wife and myself and this is the one year that I was the only one that was able to participate, and you got everyone, you know, all those who are disappointed that they couldn't make it. One child had to work. Another was, you know, out of town with some friends on a birthday party with some parents and friends, and another one had a basketball game.

You know? So it's just like, you know, dumb luck for us. But, you know, it's also really hard when you're hearing the reports and yes, I have friends that were there in the crowd that either witnessed it or were there with the aftermath, and so, you know, it's just really, it's just so hard for me. It's like an alternative reality, you know, based on like what a parade that I walked away from and now what the whole nation is hearing on the news.

BROWN: It's like completely different.

BROWNE: Yes. You know and we're --

BROWN: I mean --

BROWNE: Yes.

BROWN: And I'm wondering, you know, we have seen this video and hopefully we can pull it up. This is actually from the live stream from Waukesha. They were live streaming the parade and if we can just pull that up, guys, you can see the red SUV go by the parade-goers as you can see here on the screen. You can see the SUV go by the parade- goers, they are untouched and then they go out of frame, and so it makes you wonder presumably the incident happened after this, otherwise you would see people running but also, did it then narrow from multiple lanes as you see here to a situation where, you know, the car really had nowhere to go? Just help us understand the parade route a little better if you could. BROWNE: You know, it's just -- it's an old school main street parade,

you know, it starts -- it's funny, it's the reverse direction from our annual Fourth of July parade. It's not a very long parade. You know, it's typically, you know, our parades usually don't go more than half hour or 45 minutes and it's -- we have a very historic downtown. There is neat architecture. You know, I always joke around it would be a great set for like a movie. It's just real kind of like old school main street.

There's some really fun shopping and wonderful restaurants and bars and wine bars, and, you know, gift shops and gallery. You know, it's pretty eclectic. And it's really come up in recent years, too. You know, and so we have a Friday night live there in the summer which is basically an outdoor open festival and the streets are packed. It's like -- but it's a really fun family field type of event in the atmosphere and so this, you know, it's just really hard for me to comprehend what's going on.

[20:45:09]

It's like -- it's just even hard for me to understand the reality based on, like I said, the Main Street that I walked away from. And --

BROWN: Right.

BROWNE: I mean, I know it happened. I mean, I talked to friend that were there. You know, they were able to give me, you know, an account and describe some certain things, and we've seen the video. It's just, you know, this is -- it's a proud city. You know, it's a diverse university city, historic city of 70,000 people. You know, we've had a great, you know, we're really -- we're proud of our decision to buy a home here years ago and raise our family here. And our kids have had a great experience with the schools and the different clubs and programs they've been involved in.

And so it's just, you know, for all these innocent people to experience something like that, you know, it's just really hard to understand and really hard to get my arms around. And again --

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: Yes, it's going to take a while.

BROWNE: Yes, you know, and I just, you know, I hope, especially with the holiday, you know, this is the first, you know, event really of the holiday season here.

BROWN: Right.

BROWNE: And it attracts people from other counties, too, like from around the area because it's one of the few old school Christmas parties. You know, if you've ever seen the movie, you know, "Christmas Story," it's just like that, you know.

BROWN: Right. Right. And that's what you were experiencing in the parade. BROWNE: Yes.

BROWN: You were done with your job in the parade. You were driving home and then all of this unfolded. It is surreal. More than 20 people injured according to officials. And we're still awaiting this press conference there in Waukesha. Hopefully, we can get some more answers.

Thank you so much, Don, for taking the time out to talk with us.

BROWNE: You bet. Happy to help. Yes. Thanks for your coverage and definitely keep our families and victims and our city in your thoughts and prayers tonight.

BROWN: Absolutely. Absolutely we are. We are certainly doing that. Thank you.

BROWNE: Thank you.

BROWN: Our breaking news continues after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:51:47]

BROWN: And we continue to follow that breaking news out of Wisconsin where more than 20 people are injured after a vehicle plowed through a holiday parade in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha. Police have issues a shelter in place order for everyone within a half mile radius of downtown Waukesha. The White House is currently monitoring that situation and we're going to hear from local police shortly.

Back with me now Jonathan Wackrow, a CNN law enforcement analyst and corporate security consultant. He was also a Secret Service agent. Also with us, CNN senior law enforcement analyst Andrew McCabe. He is the former deputy director of the FBI.

Jonathan, I'm going to start with you. The police have called for a shelter in place for everyone within a half mile radius of downtown but they also said the area is safe and that there weren't ongoing threats. What does all of that tell you?

WACKROW: Listen, I think this is part of, you know, the incident management structure that they've put into place. What we did hear early on from officials was that there were multiple injuries and ways that people were seeking help. People were transported to the hospital via ambulance. We have reports that law enforcement officers put people in their vehicles and transported them to local area medical centers, and then individuals were walking wounded, were, you know, providing self-care and transporting, self-transporting to medical facilities.

The scene was very chaotic in that moment so the shelter in place, you know, out of an abundance of caution, was applied to, you know, try to maintain the scene's safety of the surrounding areas so that responding officials could come in. The last thing you want is for individuals to come down to just be onlookers to an incident so the shelter in place I think was necessary. And that's what I'm thinking that officials were going for when they applied that because they did say right away that there were no additional threats.

So this wasn't an environment that was under a persistent threat. This was something that was more around incident management and how first responders were going to manage this scene moving forward.

BROWN: Andy, final thoughts to you.

MCCABE: Well, I think Jonathan hit it on the head. I think they have a massive crime scene that they need to sort through now. They'll probably call in through mutual aid agreements surrounding law enforcement agencies, maybe FBI assets, to help them with that. They want to keep as many people out of that area as they can until they're able to do the sort of investigative work that they'll need to do to back up whatever sort of litigation comes from this, whether it's a criminal prosecution of people involved or civil litigation that arises from injuries, sort of things. So they have a lot of work to do. They're probably just trying to clear that scene.

BROWN: And I just want to go back to you, Jonathan, because again, you know, people want to jump to conclusions but there is so much we don't know about this, right? Even though we do know some things, and that is that more than 20 people were injured, that there was a red SUV according to eyewitnesses that plowed through this holiday parade.

[20:55:06]

Police say they have located or they are looking into a person of interest. They have found the vehicle. But as you look at the clues coming from the videos, what can you glean? Because as we know investigators will be looking at these videos, as they too try to piece together how this happened and presumably build a case down the road.

WACKROW: Yes, listen, I think it's hard. You know, we're -- I think everyone is struggling right now with, you know, what was the intent of this driver? Were they focused on targeting this parade specifically? Or are there other contributing factors that led them to breakthrough that police barricade? One of the things that I noted as I was reviewing the video in the break was that when the red SUV first broke through the police barricade, you can see that it actually has some significant frontend damage that you could see the hood of the vehicle is crunched up.

So looking at that, investigators are going to say, was this vehicle part of another motor vehicle accident earlier? Did they hit something earlier on? Whether it's that day? Were they fleeing from something else? So again there's multiple vectors here that investigators are actually looking for to try to piece together the actual intent of that driver. Again, really early on in the investigation as Andy had just said this crime scene is really large and we don't know how far back it goes. We know it's the parade route but does the crime scene actually go out beyond that scene? So.

BROWN: Right. OK. Well, we are tracking this, all the latest developments. We are expecting this press conference soon. Thank you both, Andy, Jonathan.

Our breaking news coverage continues right after a quick break. Stay with us.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.