A 31-year-old man shot and killed his seven young children and a cousin, as well as seriously wounding his wife and another woman this Sunday morning (19), in northwest Louisiana, USA, authorities said.
The event was considered the most massacre in more than two years.
“This is a tragic situation, perhaps the worst we’ve ever had in Shreveport,” Mayor Tom Arceneaux said at a news conference.
Local leaders met this Monday (20) and lamented the .
See what is known
Shamar Elkins shot his wife, another woman and several others in the area, police said.
Just before 6 a.m., Shreveport police received a call from someone on the roof of a home on West 79th Street that a suspect inside the residence had just shot someone, Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said at a news conference Monday.
A few minutes later, another caller informed police that the suspect was a member of the caller’s family, and the dispatcher was told that nine people lived in the home, Smith said.
“The caller further stated that the suspect, identified as Shamar Elkins, had shot everyone inside the home at 6 a.m. A minute later, she reported that she and her children had fled the roof and were in the backyard; at 6:01 a.m., officers arrived on scene,” Smith said.
Minutes later, police received a call about another attack on Harrison Street. One woman said her boyfriend had shot her, taken her three children and fled the scene, Smith said.
The caller identified the suspect as Elkins, and at 6:10 a.m. authorities realized the attacks were related, the police chief said.
At about 6:15 a.m., an armed Elkins stole a car — which police believed, at the time, may have children inside — and began a police chase into Bossier Parish, police said. Elkins was using a rifle during the incident, said Corporal Chris Bordelon of the Shreveport Police.
At 6:29 a.m., officers shot Elkins, who was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:03 a.m., Smith said.
The youngest victim, Jayla Elkins, was just 3 years old, authorities said.
The other children killed are Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariah Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5, according to the Caddo Parish Medical Examiner’s Office.
Elkins’ wife suffered very serious injuries, Bordelon told the news affiliate. CNNKSLA. The other woman suffered life-threatening injuries, he added; his name has not yet been released.
While the shooting was happening, some children tried to escape through the back door, state Rep. Tammy Phelps said during a news conference with other city officials.
On Monday, bullet marks could be seen on the back door of one of the houses.
A 13-year-old boy who jumped from the building’s roof suffered “some fractures” but is expected to recover, according to Bordelon.
“We’re very grateful he was able to escape,” Bordelon said.
Authorities say they continue to investigate the attack, which involved several different locations and jurisdictions, adding to the challenge for investigators.
Troubled marriage
Elkins married his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh, 34, about two years ago, according to public records.
Pugh had filed for divorce based on infidelity, said Troy Brown, husband of one of the women shot and father of one of the dead children.
Elkins had recently been to the local veterans hospital for mental health issues, Crystal Brown, cousin of Brown and Pugh, told CNN.
“For him, everything was falling apart, and I was constantly talking to my brother-in-law. ‘Let’s sit outside. Let’s play dominoes. Let’s play cards. Let’s go for a walk,'” Brown said. After Brown encouraged him to get help, Elkins was admitted to the hospital for about a week and a half.
“It was personal. It had nothing to do with my family,” Brown said. “He came home. He was happy. He loved his children,” he added.
When Pugh and Elkins began divorce proceedings, Brown said Elkins was going through a difficult time. Brown asked if he needed to go back to the hospital, but Elkins reportedly responded, “No, I’m fine. I’ll handle it on my own.”
“I wish he would have gotten help,” Brown said.
Elkins and Pugh were scheduled to go to court Monday to sign the documents, Crystal Brown said.
Troy Brown was in tears Monday as he spoke about his son, who died in the attack.
“I’ll never be able to play football with him again,” he said.
His wife suffered fractures when she fell from the roof, Brown said. She has already undergone surgery and is doing well, he added.
The shooting shocked Brown because when he left for work at 9 p.m. Saturday, Elkins “was calm,” he said.
Freddie Montgomery, who lives across the street from the family home, told CNN who saw Elkins sitting on his porch Saturday while children played in the yard about 12 hours before the attack.
Montgomery waved and Elkins waved back, he said.
“What kind of father would do that to his children?” asked Montgomery.
Pugh had recently told her uncle, Lionel Pugh, that she planned to divorce Elkins, he told CNN. He was surprised because “everything seemed fine,” he said.
Lionel Pugh was getting ready to go to work when he got a call about the attack.
“It was devastating… I got here and all I saw was yellow tape, a crime scene,” he said of him, adding, “They were just sweet, normal kids.”
Elkins posted a photo of himself with his children on his Facebook page on April 5, saying he had attended an Easter service for the first time with all of them.
Four days later, he reposted a prayer from another Facebook page that began: “Dear God, today I ask that you help me protect my mind and emotions.”
The prayer also asks for strength to “reject” depression, anger, anxiety and panic.
Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard as a signal support systems specialist and fire support specialist, an Army spokesperson told CNN. He was never deployed and left the Army in 2020 as a private.
He had at least two prior felony convictions in Caddo District Court, records show. He was arrested in March 2019 on charges of illegally carrying weapons, carrying a firearm on school property and driving under the influence in 2016.
In the 2019 incident, an officer wrote in an arrest report that Elkins pulled a 9-millimeter handgun from his pants and fired five times at a vehicle after the driver pointed a gun at him and “fled.”
The attack occurred near a school playground where children were playing, the officer wrote, according to court documents.
“Result of an outbreak”
On Monday morning, a memorial filled with flowers, balloons and stuffed animals could be seen in front of the family’s home, where members of the community arrived and left throughout the day. Some prayed. Others cried.
A local school bus aide, who lives across town, stopped by the house Monday morning with flowers and balloons to offer her condolences.
“We just wanted to come and do something. It might not be much, but it is something,” she told CNN.
Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor broke down in tears on Sunday and urged people to make better use of available resources to deal with mental health challenges.
“This is not a joke! This is real, and this is the result of an outbreak,” Taylor said.
Investigators will determine whether this was a case of family annihilation — a deliberate attempt to wipe out an entire family at once — said Andrew McCabe, former FBI deputy director and senior public safety analyst at the FBI. CNN.
“I think the work to be done now is to go back and try to identify the signs that were present in family members, probably spouses, friends and other people,” McCabe said,
“[…] and work with the community to better understand what steps to take when someone close to them is experiencing this type of depression,” he added.
The attack is the deadliest in the US since January 2014, when a 23-year-old man shot eight people, most of them relatives, in a Chicago suburb.
There have been at least 114 mass shootings in the U.S. this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, which, like the CNNdefines a mass shooting as one in which four or more people are shot, not including the shooter.
The mayor of Shreveport described the scene in the city of just over 180,000 people as “horrible” and told CNN that the attack “shook the entire city”.
“Our community is mourning the unimaginable loss of innocent children. There are no words that can make sense of this, and no distance that can protect us from this pain,” Arceneaux said in a statement, asking the community to come together to support each other.
“We cannot ignore the deeper issues: domestic violence, untreated trauma, and the silence that allows both to fester,” he wrote.
The deaths of the eight children represent more than double the number of homicides in Shreveport and Caddo Parish this year, according to the Medical Examiner’s Office.
“Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating what led to the tragedy,” said Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill.
“We still don’t know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I am praying for the victims and their families in the face of this devastating violence,” Murrill wrote in a statement.
U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson, who represents the Shreveport region in Congress, called the murders “heartbreaking.”
“We are with the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” Johnson said.
At a vigil held Sunday night in Shreveport, community members gathered to light candles and lay flowers and stuffed animals in honor of the children killed.
(With input from Chris Boyette, Alaa Elassar, Leah Asmelash, Amanda Jackson, Sharif Paget, Andy Rose, and Sneha Dhandapani of CNN)
