Shreveport Mass Shooting: What We Know After 8 Children Killed

Community members are grieving after eight children were killed in Shreveport early Sunday morning, April 19. The attack, a mass shooting, unfolded between two homes shortly after 6 a.m. CT, according to a press conference held by the Shreveport Police Department and spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Two women were also shot during the incident, including the gunman’s wife, the mother of several of the children, both of whom were critically wounded. Officers had initially responded to a call reporting a “domestic disturbance.”

What led up to the eight children being killed in the Shreveport Mass Shooting?

According to reporting from the Associated Press and CNN, the shooter was identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins. Authorities say he began the attack at a home near Harrison Street, where he shot his wife. He then went to a second residence in the 300 block of West 79th Street, where he shot eight children and the other adult female victim.

Officials said the children, all killed inside the same house, ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old, according to KSLA. CNN noted that seven of the children were Elkins and the eighth child killed was a cousin. The victims included three boys and five girls, the Associated Press noted. Seven children were found inside the home, while one was discovered dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, Bordelon said. A ninth child — a 13-year-old boy who leaped from the building to escape — sustained “some broken bones” but is expected to recover.

“We’re just very thankful he was able to get away,” Bordelon said.

Elkins’ wife suffered “very serious injuries,” according to Bordelon, while the second woman had “life-threatening injuries.” Her identity has not yet been released. It’s unclear if the second woman was romantically connected to Elkins. The report from KSLA noted that she “may also be the mother of some of the children.”

According to the Associated Press, Elkins died following a police pursuit that ended when officers opened fire. Authorities have not identified a clear motive, though Bordelon said investigators believe the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.” 

Shamar Elkins and his wife were reportedly in the process of separating.

Family members say Elkins and his wife had been in the process of separating and were scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the wounded women, said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting. 

“He murdered his children,” Brown told the Associated Press. “He shot his wife.” 

Brown described them as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”

Shamar Elkins’ relatives told KTLA 5 that he had a history of mental health problems and had recently “expressed suicidal thoughts.”

During a Sunday press conference, Tabatha Taylor spoke emotionally about the tragedy in tears. 

“There are eight children that are deceased,” she said struggling through tears. “I think about the mother and what this family has lost. I think about this community and what this community has lost, and I don’t have the words to give you, and I’m sorry. I don’t know. What people think in the crevices of their mind, to want to harm another human being, let alone that of children who have their whole life ahead of them.”

The Shreveport mass shooting is the deadliest mass killing in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024, according to a database maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.

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