Shamar Elkins Kills Eight Children in Shreveport, Louisiana, Police Say

A man identified by police as Shamar Elkins killed eight children, seven of whom were his own, in Shreveport, Louisiana, in an early Sunday attack that police described as domestic in nature.

CBS News reported that “A man killed eight kids — seven of whom were his own children — early Sunday in a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, police told CBS News,” and that the shooter was also dead.

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CNN said the children were killed across three Shreveport, Louisiana, homes early Sunday, and that the Caddo Parish Coroner’s office told CNN the children were three boys and five girls ranging in age from 3 to 11 years old.

CNN also named the victims 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.

NBC News said the shootings took place at two homes in the early morning and that the children killed were “18 months to 12 years old.”

Police said the suspect first shot a woman on the street before going to a nearby residence, where all eight people who were killed were shot, according to CBS News.

NBC News reported that officers responded to the 300 block of West 79th Street just after 6 a.m., and that the gunman fled and carjacked a person at gunpoint near the intersection of Linwood Avenue and West 79th Street.

The attack ended when officers shot and killed Elkins in neighboring Bossier Parish after a pursuit, police said, with CBS News adding that Louisiana State Police said its detectives will investigate the circumstances around the suspect’s death because it involved an officer.

Investigators and officials repeatedly framed the killings as domestic, while multiple outlets pointed to Elkins’s earlier legal and military history.

WRAL, citing police, said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident,” and that the suspect shot a woman at one home and then drove to another location “where this heinous act was carried out.”

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CNN said Shreveport Police Cpl. Chris Bordelon identified the gunman as Shamar Elkins and told CNN affiliate KSLA the shootings were “domestic in nature,” and it added that Elkins was 31.

NBC News described the incident as a domestic violence incident and said the suspect’s wife and a woman believed to be his girlfriend were also shot and seriously injured.

CBS News reported that Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said investigators would be “going through every piece of evidence at every scene” to understand what took place.

CBS News also quoted Shreveport Councilman Grayson Boucher saying, “Over 30% of our crimes and 30% of our murders in the city of Shreveport are domestic in relation,” and that “Now that number has gone up.”

CNN provided additional context about Elkins’s background, saying he was arrested in 2019 on a firearms case, and that he served in the Louisiana Army National Guard for seven years until August 2020, according to the US Army.

USA Today added that court records show Elkins previously pled guilty to a weapons charge and served probation in 2019, and it said he served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 2013 to 2020 as a signal system specialist and a fire support specialist.

CNN also reported that Elkins fired five rounds at a vehicle in retaliation while next to a school, and that he was not deployed.

Across the coverage, officials said they did not yet know what set off the violence, with WRAL stating authorities did not say what may have set off the violence but that Bordelon said detectives were confident it was domestic.

Public reaction in Shreveport and Louisiana focused on grief, investigation, and the domestic-violence framing.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith told reporters, “I just cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur,” and CBS News added that he said investigators will be “going through every piece of evidence at every scene.”

CNN quoted Smith saying, “It rattles the entire city,” and it also included his remark, “I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” alongside his statement, “I just don’t know what to say.”

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said the shooting “affects the entire community,” and NBC News quoted him calling it “a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport.”

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said on X that he and his wife Sharon “are heartbroken over this situation” and are “praying for everyone affected,” according to CBS News, while Lafayette Daily Advertiser quoted Landry writing, “We’re praying for everyone affected,” and “We’re deeply grateful to the law enforcement officers and first responders working tirelessly on the scene.”

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson called it “heartbreaking,” and CNN and CBS News both quoted Johnson’s remarks about holding victims and families close in thoughts and prayers.

In the community, neighbor Liza Demming told CNN that “That’s’ pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house,” and she later said she saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof.

WRAL quoted Mack London, 71, saying, “Nothing like this has ever happened on this street,” and “It was bad. ... I hate that it happened to those kids.”

State Rep. Tammy Phelps told CNN that some children tried to escape out the back door, and she later broke down in tears asking the community for help, saying, “I’m going to ask the community, along with prayer, with every mental health consultant, counselor, that is out here: This family and this community needs you.”

In a statement through her organization, Giffords, Gabby Giffords said, “This is a devastating act of domestic gun violence, taking the lives of eight young children,” and she added, “All of us should be outraged that we live in a country that routinely subjects our kids to such unimaginable violence.”

While all outlets agreed on the core facts of eight children killed and the suspect’s death after a police pursuit, they diverged on details of the scene and the victims’ ages.

CBS News said the shootings took place at multiple locations in the city and that officers responded just after 6 a.m. ET at the residence where the victims were shot, and it said the suspect fled and carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint nearby.

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CNN said the scene spanned three Shreveport homes along West 79th Street and Harrison Street, and it quoted Bordelon describing “This is a very large scene with multiple deceased children present.”

CNN also said a 13-year-old boy was injured after fleeing from a home and jumping from the roof, and it described the injuries as “few broken bones” and expected to recover.

NBC News said the gunman first shot a woman on nearby Harrison Street before he headed to a home on West 79th Street, where he killed all the children, and it said one of the wounded women was Elkins’ wife shot in the face.

WRAL said the attacks began before sunrise in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport, and it specified that seven children were killed inside the second house and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, while another child jumped off the roof and was expected to survive.

The age ranges also varied across outlets: CBS News said the ages ranged from 1 to approximately 14 years old, while CNN said earlier ages ranged from 1 to 14 but also gave the coroner’s ages as 3 to 11, and NBC News said the children killed were “18 months to 12 years old.”

Lafayette Daily Advertiser said the children who died ranged in age from 1 to 14 years old and that the incident resulted in 10 total victims.

USA Today said the children were ages 3 to 11 according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, while noting that authorities initially released a different age range for the victims.

Across these accounts, police described the suspect’s wife as the mother of at least seven children and a woman believed to be his girlfriend as also shot, with NBC News saying the other woman was believed to be his girlfriend and was seriously injured.

Police also said there were no other suspects, and NBC News reported that police believe there are no other suspects and that the gunman shot 10 victims in all.

Officials and outlets placed the attack in a broader national context of mass shootings while also describing immediate investigative steps and requests for information.

CBS News said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said on X that multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating the incident, and it reported that Louisiana State Police said its detectives will investigate the circumstances around the suspect’s death since it involved an officer.

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NBC News said Louisiana State Police are investigating the shooting of the suspect, and it stated that Shreveport police said nothing suggests any wrongdoing by officers.

WRAL said Louisiana State Police say their detectives have been asked by Shreveport police to help investigate, and it quoted state police as saying no officers were harmed in the shooting that involved an officer after a police pursuit into Bossier City on Sunday morning.

CNN said the gunman was fatally shot by officers after carjacking a vehicle and leading police on a chase into the next parish, and it said Louisiana State Police are investigating the officer-involved shooting.

USA Today said officials have not said what led to the shooting but described it as a “tragic domestic violence incident,” and it said Elkins is believed to be the only suspect involved.

CNN and USA Today both referenced the mass-shooting classification, with CNN saying there have been at least 114 mass shootings in the United States so far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.

Lafayette Daily Advertiser said the shooting represented the deadliest mass shooting since January 2024 when a gunman shot and killed eight people in a suburb of Chicago, according to a USA TODAY and Associated Press database, and it said the database defines a mass shooting as an attack in which four people are killed, not including the suspect.

In the immediate aftermath, CBS News reported that Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said the shooting “affects the entire community,” and it quoted him calling it “This is a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport.”

CNN said Superintendent Keith Burton of Shreveport’s Caddo Parish Public Schools said the community “must take care of our children, support our families, and stand beside our educators and first responders who are carrying the weight of this moment.”

Several outlets also described ongoing information gathering, including CBS News reporting that rescue and investigation efforts were still underway and that investigators were “working to process the scene and gather further information.”

The next steps described in the coverage included releasing more information soon, with LiveNOW from FOX saying Bordelon said police would be releasing more information soon and into the beginning of the week, and it said state police were asking anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives.