Darrell Brooks is the suspect in the Waukesha Christmas Parade incident. The Milwaukee man has been charged with crimes 16 times since 1999 - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

The driver suspected of plowing through the Waukesha holiday parade Sunday —  killing five people and injuring nearly 50 others — had an ongoing domestic violence case and was out of custody after prosecutors recommended an "inappropriately low" bail in the case, the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office said Monday. .

Waukesha Police Chief Dan Thompson confirmed Brooks' identity at a Monday afternoon news conference and said investigators learned Brooks was involved in a "domestic disturbance" before he drove into the parade route.

Thompson said there was a report of a knife being involved, but police were unable to confirm that as of Monday afternoon.

In the early November case, a woman told police that Brooks purposefully ran her "over with his vehicle" while she was walking through a gas station parking lot after he had followed her there after a fight, according to the criminal complaint.

The recent $1,000 bail recommended by prosecutors, and accepted by the court commissioner, was "inappropriately low" given the nature of the charges, according to a statement Monday from the Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office, led by District Attorney John Chisholm.

An attorney representing Brooks in his current Milwaukee County case declined to answer questions about the most recent charge there.

The Journal Sentinel contacted Court Commissioner Cedric Cornwall, who set the bail, and Milwaukee County Chief Judge Mary Triggiano, who oversees the court system, on Monday morning and has not heard back. .

The man taken into custody in connection with the parade tragedy has a history of criminal allegations involving violence, court records show.

He has been charged with crimes 10 times since 1999, when Brooks pleaded guilty at 17 years old to a felony charge of inflicting substantial bodily harm against another person, according to court records. He also has been cited for traffic and disorderly conduct offenses that are not considered crimes. .

Brooks ran away from the car, court records say, and he was arrested hiding in a children's playhouse in the same block. He later pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in that case.

He was accused of getting into a fight with a relative and then firing a gun at the relative and a friend, according to court records.

Brooks was still in custody at that time and had made a speedy trial demand, but because another jury trial was in progress in the same court, the case was postponed.

After hearing arguments from Brooks' attorney, bail was dropped to $500 by Milwaukee County Judge David Feiss, online records show.

The woman was hospitalized and officers saw a tire track mark on her pants leg, according to court records.

Reporters who approached a Milwaukee address associated with Brooks were stopped by police who said the resident did not want to speak reporters.

Dozens of witness videos showed a red SUV hurtling through the parade and appeared to show the vehicle hitting members of the Waukesha South High School Blackshirt Band, the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies and a children's dance group.

Early Monday morning, the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies confirmed some of their members had died.

Formed in 1984, the Milwaukee Dancing Grannies are a choreographed dance and pom-pom group that performs in about 25 parades each year, according to its website.

Aurora Medical Center-Summit, a hospital in Waukesha County, confirmed they were treating 13 patients early Monday morning

Correction: An earlier post contained inaccurate information about when the suspect had been released from custody in Milwaukee County Jail and how many crimes he had been charged with since 1999, citing online court records