Police say eight children were killed on Sunday morningSuspect was shot dead by police during car chaseSome of the young victims were children of gunmanThose killed ranged from about 1 to 14 years old, police said
The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him, according to Mr Bordelon.
Officials said the children — who were all killed in the same house — ranged in age from three to 11 years old.
The incident stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighbourhood, which has been left shaken by one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years.
Two women, including the gunman’s wife, who was the mother of their children, were also shot and critically injured, according to Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon.
Shreveport Police Department public affairs officer Christopher Bordelon uses a cellphone after children, with ages ranging from 1 to 14, were killed in a mass shooting incident described as domestic violence, in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. April 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Bartram
Authorities did not say what may have set off the violence, but Mr Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident”.
The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the US in more than two years.
A man walks past the scene after children, with ages ranging from 1 to 14, were killed in a mass shooting incident described as domestic violence, in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. April 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Bartram
“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.”
Mr Bordelon said police were familiar with Elkins, who had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, but he said officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.
Shamar Elkins, suspected of killing eight children at a residence in Shreveport, Louisiana. Shreveport Police Department/Handout via REUTERS
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Police said the attacks began before sunrise in a neighbourhood 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, Mr Bordelon said. Another child jumped off the roof and was expected to survive after being taken to a hospital.
State representative Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door.
Rev. Steven J. Newton Sr. leads a prayer circle after children, with ages ranging from 1 to 14, were killed in a mass shooting incident described as domestic violence, in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. April 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Bartram
“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 victims were three boys and five girls, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s office.
Elkins and his wife were in the middle of separating and were due in court on Monday, said Crystal Brown, who is a cousin of one of the wounded women.
Ms Brown said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.
“He murdered his children,” Ms 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 Ms Brown. All the children were together at one house, she said.
Ms Brown described all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet”.
A Shreveport police officer works at the scene after children, with ages ranging from 1 to 14, were killed in a mass shooting incident described as domestic violence, in Shreveport, Louisiana, U.S. April 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Bartram
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.
Ms 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.
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.
Domestic violence
At a news conference, Louisiana state Senator Sam Jenkins, whose district includes much of Shreveport, said the shooting underscored the need for more resources to combat domestic violence.
“If we have someone with a history of domestic violence, let’s make sure that those resources, that intervention is there on a continuous and consistent basis, hopefully to avoid what we’ve seen here today,” Jenkins said.
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, a Shreveport native, on social media called the shooting a “heartbreaking tragedy.” Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said on social media that he and his wife were “praying for everyone affected”.
Not including Sunday’s incident in Shreveport, the Gun Violence Archive lists at least 119 mass shootings in the United States this year, resulting in 117 deaths, including 79 children, and 458 people injured.
The archive defines a mass shooting as an incident in which at least four people, not including the shooter, are injured or killed by gunfire. The United States had 407 mass shootings last year, according to archive data.
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