Man kills 8 children and shoots his wife and another woman in Shreveport, Louisiana

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, in an attack on his family that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport, Louisiana, neighborhood left shaken by one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, police said.

The gunman’s wife, who was the mother of their children, and another woman were also shot and critically wounded in the attack Sunday, according to the Shreveport Police Department. The gunman, identified as Shamar Elkins, died after fleeing the scene and a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him.

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Officials said the children — three boys and five girls — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old. Another child jumped off the roof of the house and was expected to survive.

“This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said.

Elkins and his wife were in the process of separating and had been due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the women who were shot. She said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.

“He murdered his children,” Brown said.

The violence started before sunrise Sunday

Authorities said the attack began before dawn, when Elkins shot a woman at one home in the neighborhood south of downtown and then fatally shot the children at another house a few blocks away. Elkins’ nephew was among the slain children, according to the Caddo Parish coroner’s office.

Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where most of the victims were shot, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away along with the sound of two shots.

“That’s pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house and the cars leaving,” she said.

Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof.

State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door. “I can’t even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said.

Mourners laid flowers outside the single-story house on 79th Street and others lit candles for the victims in the parking lot of a nearby shopping plaza.

“It just makes you take your children and hug them and hold them and tell them how much you love them,” said Kimberlin Jackson, who attended the vigil.

Gunman had no recent history of domestic violence, police say

Investigators were not aware of other domestic violence issues involving Elkins, Shreveport police spokesman Chris Bordelon said.

Elkins did not appear to have an extensive criminal history in court records, which showed he was placed on probation in 2019 after pleading guilty to illegal use of weapons. In that case, Elkins told police that someone driving a vehicle pulled a gun on him “and then took off,” according to a police report.

Brown, the cousin of one of the women who were shot, said she was at church Sunday morning when the pastor told congregants about the shooting at the end of the service. She described the children as happy and friendly.

“They worked, came home, they stuck to themselves,” she said. “Just an everyday family.”

The shooting in Shreveport, a city of about 180,000 residents, was the deadliest in the U.S. since January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.