Summary of this article
A 31-year-old man killed eight children, including seven of his own, and shot two women in Shreveport, Louisiana.
The gunman, Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit following the domestic incident.
The shooting is the deadliest in the US since January 2024.
A father in Shreveport, Louisiana, killed eight children, seven of them his own, and shot his wife and another woman in a domestic attack early on Sunday.
Police said the violence started before sunrise when the suspect shot a woman at one home in a neighbourhood south of downtown. He then drove to a second location where seven children were killed inside the house and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape.
Another child jumped from the roof and was taken to hospital, where he or she was expected to survive. State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door.
The victims were aged between three and 11 and included three boys and five girls, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s office. All the children were described as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet” by Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the women who were shot.
The gunman, 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him, police spokesperson Chris Bordelon said. Authorities described the shootings as “entirely a domestic incident”.
Elkins and his wife were in the middle of separating and were due in court on Monday, according to Brown. She said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting. “He murdered his children,” Brown said. “He shot his wife.”
According to Associated Press, the shooting in Shreveport, a city of about 180,000 residents, was the deadliest in the US since January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb.
Elkins had four children with his wife and three with another woman who lived close by and was also shot, Brown said. All the children were together at one house at the time.
AP reported that officials appeared stunned at a news conference outside the residence where one of the shootings occurred. Shreveport mayor Tom Arceneaux said, “This is a tragic situation — maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had.”
Mourners laid flowers outside the single-storey house on 79th Street, and people lit candles for the victims at an evening prayer vigil in a nearby parking lot.
“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 was at the vigil.
Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said, “I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback.”
Bordelon said Elkins had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, but officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues. Detectives were continuing to investigate what may have set off the violence.
According to Associated Press, this was the nation’s deadliest shooting in more than two years.
(With inputs from AP)
