A deadly shooting in Louisiana on Sunday 19th April left eight children dead, authorities said, in what police described as a domestic violence incident. Officials said the suspect then fled in a carjacked vehicle and was killed by officers; the violence, which unfolded at two residences in the early hours, also left the suspect’s wife and a woman believed to be his girlfriend seriously wounded.
Police said the children who were killed ranged in age from 18 months to 12 years.
“I just don’t know what to say. My heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith told reporters. “I just cannot begin to imagine how such an event can occur.”
Shreveport police identified Shamar Elkins as the shooter and the sole suspect in the attack.
Police spokesperson Christopher Bordelon said seven of the eight children who were killed were the suspect’s.
The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.
A CNN report said Elkins was the father of seven of the children who died and that Elkins’ wife was one of the two women shot and seriously injured.
Another CNN report described the shooting as having occurred Saturday night and gave a different age range for the victims, saying the children were between 1 and 14 years old; that report also said a 13-year-old boy escaped by jumping from the roof of the home.
Background and Prior Offenses for Shamar Elkins
According to court records, Elkins pleaded guilty to a weapons charge and was placed on probation in 2019.
An Army official told USA TODAY that Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 2013 to 2020, where he was listed as a signal system specialist and a fire support specialist. He was never deployed and left the Guard with the rank of private.
A Facebook account linked to Elkins featured multiple photos of his children, including one posted two days before the shooting. Another post showed him posing for a photo with seven children on Easter Sunday.
“Happy Easter had a wonderful time at church for the first time with all my kids what a blessed day,” the caption said.
Neighbor says he may have spotted Elkins a day before the shooting
Freddie Montgomery, who lives across the street from the scene, told reporters he believes he saw Elkins a day prior to the attack.
“Just yesterday afternoon, about this time, the possible person that did this thing was sitting on the porch and I waved at him yesterday. He waved at me,” Montgomery told the Shreveport Times, part of the USA TODAY Network, adding: “All the kids were playing in the yard.”
Montgomery said that on the morning of Sunday, April 19, he heard a loud voice outdoors and watched Shreveport officers go into the house across the street. He was ironing the clothes he intended to wear to church at the time.
“That’s when I knew something was wrong,” he said.
