(Trends Wide) — In a 2007 letter to a Nevada circuit judge, filed as part of a court case, the suspect in the fatal Waukesha parade incident, Darrell Brooks, wrote that he had previously been diagnosed with mental disorders and had persistent suicidal thoughts. .
“They sent me to a mental health hospital at age 12, and they told me I was bipolar, manic-depressive and severely depressed,” Brooks wrote in the letter. “I tried to commit suicide numerous times after my grandmother died, and even today I have suicidal tendencies.”
Brooks went on to say that he was taking medication “to this day,” but did not identify which one.
“My mother thinks I have to go back into the hospital and reevaluate,” he wrote.
The letter, dated July 9, 2007, was written after Brooks’s probation was revoked because he continued to contact the victim for whom he pleaded guilty to sexual seduction of a minor.
According to court records obtained by Trends Wide through a public records request, the letter was presented at a hearing held on July 13, 2007. Court records show that a psychological evaluation was completed and delivered to the court, but Trends Wide did not. you have obtained a copy of that report.
Separately, Wisconsin court records show Brooks was convicted in a 2010 case after pleading guilty to three counts: felony strangulation and suffocation, misdemeanor assault, and misdemeanor property damage. During sentencing, a note in court records says that “counseling is deemed necessary” and that Brooks needed to “take the prescribed medication.”
Trends Wide reached out to Brooks’s mother, the Waukesha Police Department, the Waukesha County Sheriff’s Office and Brooks’s attorneys for comment, but has not received an immediate response.
How to get help for someone who might commit suicide
Call to 1-800-273-8255 in the United States to contact the National Suicide Prevention Line. Provides free, confidential assistance 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for people in suicidal or distressed crisis. You can learn more about their services here, including their guide on what to do if suicidal signs are identified on social media.
You can also call 1-800-273-8255 to talk to someone about how you can help someone in crisis. Call to 1-866-488-7386 for TrevorLifeline, a suicide prevention counseling service for the LGBTQ community.
For assistance outside of the US, the International Association for Suicide Prevention provides a global directory of international resources and hotlines. You can also turn to Befrienders Worldwide.
See here the lines of attention and suicide prevention in Latin America and Spain.