An armed attacker in Louisiana killed eight children and wounded two other people in the early morning hours on Sunday, in an attack that, according to authorities, represented an act of domestic violence and took place in two houses.
The suspect was killed following a police chase, and the victims—ranging in age from one to about 14 years old—included children who were related to the attacker, said Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon, as reported by AP.
Investigators have not stated what might have driven him to commit the mass murder.
Police identified the attacker as Shamar Elkins, the communications director for the mayor of Shreveport, Leigh Anne Evensky, told CNN.
Two adult women and one teenager were also wounded. The women are in critical condition, while the teenager has non-life-threatening injuries.
Investigators believe that Elkins is related to at least some of the victims. The mayor previously said it is believed the suspect had a relationship with one or both women, but that has not yet been clarified.
A gunman killed eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, early Sunday in Shreveport, Louisiana, authorities said, describing the incident as a "domestic disturbance." The gunman later died after a chase with officers who fired at the suspect. https://t.co/4Z2M9AkP5Y pic.twitter.com/Y4tkBMM4WG
— ABC News (@ABC) April 19, 2026
Police stated that the attacks began before dawn in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport, when the suspect shot a woman in one house and then drove a car to another location “where this heinous act was committed.”
Seven children were killed in the second house, and one was found dead on the roof after, it is believed, attempting to escape, Bordelon said.
State Representative Tammy Phelps said that some children tried to escape through the back door.
“I cannot even imagine what the officers encountered when they arrived here today,” she said at a press conference.
Earlier this month, Elkins posted a photo with seven children, writing that they were “all mine.” It is not known if these are the children who were killed yesterday.
The suspect fled the scene, carjacked a vehicle nearby at gunpoint, and was then chased by police, according to the department.
Police stated that the suspect was killed after officers involved in the chase opened fire on him.
🇺🇸 Eight children were killed in a domestic-related mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, early on Sunday pic.twitter.com/TtD0J0WXVx
— World In Last 24hrs (@world24x7hr) April 19, 2026
Neighbors on the murder
Lisa Deming, who lives two houses away from where most of the victims were shot, said her security camera captured the attacker fleeing, accompanied by the sound of two gunshots.
“That’s mostly all I saw—him coming out of the house and cars leaving,” she said.
Deming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the roof of the house. She said she did not know the attacker’s name.
“He looked like a father who comes here,” she said, adding that just a few days ago he was seen with the children.
Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr., from a nearby Baptist church, who owns one of the houses where the shooting occurred, said that a person working for him rented the house to that family, but that he had no direct contact with them.
The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office stated that they will not be releasing the names of the children for now as the identification of the victims is still ongoing.
Police stated that the two women who were wounded are in stable but serious condition.
“What began as a family conflict ended in an irreparable tragedy,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement.
Eight children and teens were killed early Sunday in a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, authorities said. The suspected shooter is also dead, according to police.
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 19, 2026
“I don’t know what people think in the crevices of their mind to want to harm another human being, let alone… pic.twitter.com/xMHX16fk4M
Shreveport is shaken by grief
This was the deadliest mass murder in the US since January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb.
At a press conference in front of the house where one of the shootings occurred, officials appeared shaken and asked for patience and prayers while multiple crime scenes are investigated.
Louisiana State Police stated that their investigators are involved in the investigation at the request of the Shreveport police. They noted that no police officers were injured during the chase, which was partly conducted in Bossier City.
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry and US House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Shreveport, expressed shock and sadness in separate statements and praised the police.
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