Shamar Elkins Kills Eight Children in Shreveport, Louisiana Domestic-Violence Rampage

Authorities identified Shamar Elkins as the man who killed eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, during a domestic-violence-related rampage that unfolded across multiple homes early Sunday morning.

“Shamar Elkins, the killer of eight children in Louisiana, was a former soldier with mental health problems and a criminal record”

ABC

CNN reported that Elkins fatally shot eight children—seven of them his own—along with his wife and another woman, and that a third woman, his wife’s sister, and a 12-year-old girl jumped off the roof trying to escape.

ABC

NBC News described the same core sequence as a “catastrophic” shooting in which a man killed seven of his children and another child, while seriously injuring his wife and a woman described as his girlfriend.

The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office provided names and ages that multiple outlets repeated, including 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.

CNN also reported that the youngest victim, Jayla Elkins, was just 3 years old, and that the other children killed are listed by the coroner’s office.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said the first call came just before 6 a.m., after a caller on a roof reported a suspect inside had just shot someone on West 79th Street.

Police arrived at 6:01 a.m., and later received a third call about another shooting on Harrison Street, before Elkins was shot by officers after a carjacking and chase into neighboring Bossier Parish.

Across outlets, police described a tightly sequenced morning that began with calls about a disturbance and ended with Elkins being pronounced dead after an exchange of gunfire during a pursuit.

NBC News said police described the shootings as beginning just after 6 a.m. following reports of a domestic disturbance, and it laid out a minute-by-minute timeline.

Al Jazeera

NBC News reported that around 5:55 a.m., police received a call about a disturbance at the West 79th Street home, where the caller said they were on top of a house and that a male had been shot.

It then said at 6:01 a.m., officers were at the scene and “made contact” with the caller, and at 6:07 a.m. dispatch received a second call about the shooting on Harrison Street.

NBC News added that at 6:15 a.m., police received a call about the carjacking, and traffic units pursued the stolen vehicle after seeing it.

NBC News stated that at 6:29 a.m., officers made contact with the suspect “through an exchange of gunfire,” and that he was pronounced dead at 7:03 a.m.

CNN’s account matched the early-morning structure but emphasized that Shreveport police received a call from someone on the roof of a house on West 79th Street, and that police arrived at 6:01 a.m.

Investigators and officials described the victims and injuries in ways that repeatedly tied the shooting to Elkins’s family relationships while leaving motive under investigation.

NBC News said the gunman shot 10 victims in all, including eight children, and it reported that Elkins is believed to be the father of seven of the children killed, with the eighth child described as a cousin by the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office.

NBC News said most of the children were shot in the head and that it appears many were shot in their sleep, while one child was found dead on the back roof.

It also said the suspect’s wife and another woman believed to be his girlfriend were shot and seriously wounded, and that a teenager suffered injuries that were not life-threatening after falling off the roof during the violence.

CNN reported that Elkins also shot his wife and another woman, and that a third woman—his wife’s sister—jumped off the roof trying to escape.

CNN also stated that the attack spanned multiple homes and that the scene was “horrific,” quoting Mayor Tom Arceneaux describing it as “horrific” and saying it “rattles the entire city.”

NBC News said a motive is still under investigation and that police know it’s domestic in nature, with Elkins’s wife involved and described as the mother of at least seven of the children.

Multiple reports connected the rampage to Elkins’s background, including mental-health issues and a prior firearms conviction, while also describing uncertainty about what triggered the violence.

CNN reported that Elkins had previously struggled with mental health issues, and it said he and his wife, 34-year-old Shaneiqua Pugh, were in the process of divorcing, with a brother-in-law saying, “It seemed like he was having a hard time,” and that he “loved his kids.”

BET

CNN also included a specific prayer Elkins posted on Facebook, quoting: “Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions.”

CNN said the prayer asks for strength to “reject” depression, anger, anxiety and panic, and it reported that Elkins had recently stayed at the local VA hospital to get treatment for mental health issues.

NBC News and USA Today both described Elkins’s prior criminal history, with NBC News saying he was arrested in 2019 and convicted of illegal use of a firearm, and that police spokesperson Christopher Bordelon said he was likely prohibited from legally owning firearms because of the conviction.

USA Today added that Elkins previously pled guilty to illegal use of weapons, received probation, and served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 2013 to 2020 as a signal system specialist and a fire support specialist.

The New York Post provided additional detail about the 2019 case, saying Elkins was arrested March 18, 2019, after pulling a .9mm handgun out of his waistband and unloading it at a vehicle, with five shots fired near a high school in Shreveport.

While the core facts of the shooting—Shamar Elkins, eight children killed in Shreveport, and a domestic-incident framing—were consistent, outlets differed in emphasis and in how they described uncertainty around the suspect’s death and the sequence of events.

“Shocked, Shamar Elkins' relatives are struggling to understand”

BFM

NBC News explicitly said police had initially said the suspect was killed by officers, but that at Monday’s news conference Police Chief Wayne Smith said it’s unclear whether he killed himself or was shot by officers, and it described the Louisiana State Police investigation into Elkins’s shooting.

BFM

CNN, by contrast, reported that at 6:29 a.m., officers shot Elkins and that he was pronounced dead at the scene just after 7 a.m., and it did not present the same “unclear” framing about whether he died by his own hand.

The Guardian said police shot him to death after chasing him after he stole a car, and it added that “No officers were harmed during the incident.”

USA Today described the suspect as being chased and shot dead by police after stealing a car at gunpoint, and it said officials had not detailed what may have led to the shooting.

The Guardian also framed the event as the deadliest US mass shooting in more than two years, while CNN described it as the nation’s deadliest mass shooting in more than two years.

Even within victim descriptions, outlets varied in details such as the age of the child who jumped off the roof, with CNN saying a 12-year-old girl jumped off the roof and noting that police previously said it was a 13-year-old boy.

In the aftermath, officials and leaders described the incident as an extreme tragedy and pointed to ongoing investigations and support for those affected.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux told CNN that the shooting “rattles the entire city,” and he described it as “a true epidemic of domestic violence” in remarks carried by NBC News, saying it should be “a top priority of the city’s administration, the City Council and law enforcement.”

CNN quoted Arceneaux saying, “This is a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport,” and it also reported that the city’s just-over-180,000 population was processing what it called “horrific” scenes.

The Guardian reported that Wayne Smith said he was “taken aback” and that officers would work diligently for “however long it takes” to find out what happened.

NBC News said the Louisiana State Police is investigating Elkins' shooting, and it also said police were still piecing together why Elkins began his rampage.

NewsNation reported that Louisiana State Police were asking for anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives, and it quoted Arceneaux again calling it “a terrible morning in Shreveport, and we all mourn with the victims.”

KSLA reported that SPD would make counseling/mental health services available for officers who responded to the scene, and it quoted Bordelon saying, “This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” while also saying police first had a job to do.