(People) Amid the chaos that erupted at Sunday’s Waukesha Christmas Parade, David Simmons, a pastor at St. Matthias Episcopal Church, heard gunshots. Then he sprung into action, pulling children off the street and into his church.
It was a harrowing experience for all involved, especially the children, many of whom were separated from their parents for more than two hours until the tragic scene, at which five people died and 48 were injured, was stabilized.
“When we were bringing the kids in and many of them were crying and didn’t know what was going on,” Simmons says. “The young ones didn’t know what was going on, and were terrified. The older ones knew what was going on, and were terrified because they’d all been through active shooter drills before.”