GERALD HERBERT and JOHN SEEWER<\/p>\n
SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) \u2014 A gunman in Louisiana killed eight children and shot two other people Sunday in an early morning attack of domestic violence carried out across two houses, a mass shooting that shook a Shreveport neighborhood, authorities said.<\/p>\n
The suspect died after a police pursuit, and the victims \u2014 who ranged in age from 1 to about 14 years old \u2014 included children related to the gunman, said Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Investigators did not say what may have set off the attack. Conditions of those wounded were not immediately known.<\/p>\n
The mass shooting was the deadliest in the U.S. in more than two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,\u201d Bordelon said.<\/p>\n
Officers fired at the suspect during a chase after he stole a car while leaving the scene of the shootings, Bordelon said.<\/p>\n
Police did not release the name of the suspect but did say he was an adult male. <\/p>\n
Officials said they were still gathering details at the crime scenes south of downtown Shreveport, including from the two homes and a third location. <\/p>\n
Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where one of the attacks happened, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away along with the sound of two shots.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s\u2019 pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house and the cars leaving,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home\u2019s roof. She said she did not know the gunman\u2019s name.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looks like the dad that comes over here,\u201d she said, adding that he was just with the children a few days ago.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really know them, I really don\u2019t,\u201d he said. \u201cI 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\u2019m going to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb<\/a> in January 2024, according to a database<\/a> maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. <\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cI just don\u2019t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,\u201d Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. \u201cI cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a tragic situation \u2014 maybe the worst tragic situation we\u2019ve ever had,\u201d said Tom Arceneaux, mayor of the city in northwestern Louisiana with about 180,000 residents. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible morning.\u201d<\/p>\n Louisiana State Police say their detectives have been asked by Shreveport police to investigate. In a statement, state police say no officers were harmed in the shooting that involved an officer after a police pursuit into Bossier City on Sunday morning.<\/p>\n State police are asking anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives.<\/p>\n