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Just 10 days after local authorities in Caddo Parish, La., announced a new domestic violence unit, a father killed eight children, including seven of his own, and injured two women in Shreveport, officials said during a news conference on Monday — the worst mass shooting in the United States in more than two years.
“I don’t think any one of us could have imagined that only days later our community would be shaken by the most heartbreaking tragedies that we have ever witnessed,” said Caddo Parish Sheriff Henry Whitehorn. “Eight innocent children losing their lives as a result of domestic violence.”
The news conference struck a decidedly empathetic tone, with city councillors and local law enforcement urging the community to support the family.
“There are three mothers at this point that are going to be faced with immense pain. A father who is left to grieve his child,” one official said.
“I want you to understand that domestic violence is nobody’s joke: these are the residual effects of what happens if we are not paying attention.”
A man in Louisiana killed eight children, including his own, on Sunday in a shooting that authorities described as a domestic violence incident. He was later killed by police after he fled in a carjacked vehicle, officials said. The suspect’s wife and a woman believed to be his girlfriend were also shot and seriously injured in the violence, which occurred at two homes in the early morning, Shreveport police said.
The victims include three boys and five girls, all between the ages of three and 11. Authorities identified them as: Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Braylon Snow, 5; Khedarrion Snow, 6; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; and Sariahh Snow, 11.
“There are no words that can fully capture the depth of this loss,” Whitehorn said.
Early Sunday morning, the suspect — identified as Shamar Elkins, 31 — used what has so far been referred to as an “assault-style weapon” in two different homes in Shreveport, shooting and killing the children. He also shot two women, including Shaneiqua Elkins, his wife and the mother of four of the children. The other woman was reportedly the mother of three of his other children.
Both are still in the hospital and in critical condition.
His wife’s sister, who called police minutes after the shooting started, escaped with a child by jumping from the roof, police and family members said Monday.
“She said she was running for her life,” said Lionel Pugh, an uncle to the two women who were shot. “The only ones he didn’t kill was the ones who got away.”
Shamar Elkins died after fleeing and a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him. It was not clear whether he was killed by officers or from a self-inflicted gunshot, Shreveport police Chief Wayne Smith said.
Police said they weren’t aware of previous instances of domestic violence involving Shamar Elkins. But he was placed on probation in 2019 after pleading guilty to illegal use of weapons. In Louisiana, a person convicted of such a crime is banned from owning a gun for at least 10 years after their sentence and probation is over.
According to previous reporting, Shaneiqua and Shamar Elkins were in the process of separating and were due in court on Monday. The couple were reportedly arguing about the separation before the tragedy took place.
Family members described Shaneiqua as a doting mother, who celebrated her children’s success in school and carefully dressed them before family events.
“She raised those kids right,” Pugh said. “They were the center of her universe.”
Community members have dropped off tributes to the victims outside of the house where Shamar Elkins killed the eight children, establishing a makeshift memorial out of balloons and stuffed animals.