Louisiana mass shooting: What we know about suspect, eight children killed

xwhatsapp-strokecopylinkgoogleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfoplay videoplay videoVideo Duration 01 minutes 54 seconds play-arrow01:54Louisiana man kills 7 of his children, another child in mass shooting

A 31-year-old man opened fire in northwestern Louisiana on Sunday morning, killing his seven young children and a cousin in Shreveport.

He left his wife and another woman critically injured, authorities said.

The attack is the deadliest mass shooting reported in the United States in more than two years. In January 2024, eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb.

Police in Shreveport responded to reports of gunfire in the Cedar Grove area shortly after 6am (11:00 GMT) on Sunday, according to Shreveport Police officer Chris Bordelon. According to reports, the shooting started at around 5am (10:00 GMT).

Authorities said the suspect first shot his wife at a home on Harrison Street before going to another residence, where eight children and another adult were killed.

The suspect was identified as Shamar Elkins. Police said the children ranged in age from one to 14 years.

According to Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the injured women, Elkins and his wife were in the process of separating and had a court date scheduled for Monday. She told the Associated Press that the couple had been arguing over the split before the shooting.

One child managed to escape during the shooting by jumping from the roof, and he was able to call authorities.

After the attack, Elkins fled, carjacked a man at gunpoint and led police on a chase into nearby Bossier Parish.

He was carrying a rifle-style pistol when confronted by police. It was unclear if officers killed Elkins or if he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Authorities described the attack as a “violent domestic incident”.

The victims were identified as three boys and five girls. Seven of the children were the gunman’s, and one of the women was the mother of his children.

He shot them execution style, according to a spokesman for the Shreveport Police Department.

The children’s names and ages were given as:

Authorities confirmed seven of the eight victims were Elkins’s own children, and there was one cousin.

The two adult women, including his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh, are in critical condition.

The eight children’s deaths more than double the number of homicides in Shreveport and Caddo Parish this year, according to the coroner’s office.

According to reports, Elkins and his wife were in the process of separating.

Family members also told the New York Times he had been under emotional strain in the lead-up to the shooting.

His mother and stepfather said he had spoken about the possibility of divorce and described being overwhelmed by negative thoughts. His stepfather recalled trying to reassure him, but said Elkins responded that some people are unable to overcome their inner struggles.

“I told him, ‘You can beat stuff, man. I don’t care what you’re going through, you can beat it,’” Jackson said. “Then I remember him telling me: ‘Some people don’t come back from their demons.’”

According to The Washington Post, Elkins’ brother-in-law, Troy Brown, who lived with him, said he became very upset after his wife asked for a divorce. Brown told the newspaper that after their first argument about the split, Elkins seemed to be “losing his mind”.

“He was upset about it. I would talk to him and he would tell me, ‘Bro, I don’t want to lose my wife.’”

Brown said he, his wife and their two children shared a home on 79th Street with Elkins, along with Elkins’s wife and their four children. He added that Elkins also had three other children with another woman who lived nearby.

Records show that the couple was married in 2024, and his mother added that her son worked at UPS and had served in the army.

The US Army said Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020 as a signal support and fire support specialist. He was not deployed and left the military as a private.