Louisiana father kills 7 of his children plus another child in shooting at house, police say
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A gunman in Louisiana killed eight children, including seven of his own, and shot two other people Sunday in an early morning attack of domestic violence carried out across two houses, authorities said, shaking a Shreveport neighborhood in one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in more than two years.
Those killed ranged in age from 1 to about 12 years old, and one of the adults wounded was the mother of some of the suspect's children, said Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. The suspect, whom Bordelon identified as Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit.
Investigators did not say what may have set off the violence. Bordelon said there was still much to investigate but that detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”
“This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” Bordelon said.
He said Elkins had been known to police and was arrested in 2019 in a firearms case. Officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.
Officers fired at the suspect during a chase after he carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint, Bordelon said.
Police said the attacks began before sunrise in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport when the suspect shot a woman at one home and then drove to the other location “where this heinous act was carried out.”
Seven children were killed inside the second house, and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, Bordelon said.
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 at a news conference.
The two wounded women were in critical condition, officials said.
Shamar Elkins and his wife were in the middle of separating and were due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, who is a cousin with one of the wounded women. Brown said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.
“He murdered his children," Brown said. “He shot his wife.”
Elkins shared four children with his wife and three children with another woman who lived close by and who was also shot, according to Brown. All the children were together at one house, she said.
Authorities had yet to publicly identify the shooting victims.
Brown described all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”
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. She said she did not know the gunman’s name.
“He looks like the dad that comes over here,” she said, adding that he was just with the children a few days ago.
Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr., of nearby St. Gabriel Community Baptist Church, who owns one of the homes where the shootings occurred, said a person who works for him had rented it to the family, but he never had dealings with them.
“I don’t really know them, I really don’t,” he said. “I do plan on having a prayer vigil for the family, and anything I can do, with so many children, to help them bury the children, I’m going to do so.”
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office released a statement on Sunday saying it was not yet releasing any of the children’s names because identification of the victims was pending.
“What began as a domestic dispute has ended in irreversible harm,” the parish's district attorney’s office said in a statement.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
At a news conference outside the residence where one of the shootings occurred, officials appeared stunned, requesting patience and prayers from the community as they sorted through multiple crime scenes.
“I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”
“This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” said Tom Arceneaux, mayor of the city in northwestern Louisiana with about 180,000 residents. “It’s a terrible morning.”
Louisiana State Police say their detectives have been asked by Shreveport police to help investigate. In a statement, state police said no officers were harmed in the shooting that involved an officer after a police pursuit into Bossier City on Sunday morning.
State police are asking anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Shreveport, said in separate statements that they were heartbroken and praised law enforcement for their response.
“We’re holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” Johnson said in a statement.
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This story has been corrected to attribute the statements about the shooting to police spokesperson Chris Bordelon, not Police Chief Wayne Smith, and corrects the ages of the children killed based on an update by police.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Contributing were Associated Press reporters Jake Offenhartz in New York, Jeff Martin in Atlanta, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Terry Tang in Phoenix and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles.
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