The eight children killed in the Shreveport, Louisiana, shooting have had their names and ages released.
James Green, Shreveport City Council Member, provided the names and ages of the victims during a press conference on Monday.
“Today, we pause to honor the lives that were lost and families forever changed,” Green said. “Today we remember Jayla Elkins, age 3, Shayla Elkins, age 5, Kayla Pugh, age 6, Layla Pugh, age 7, Markaydon Pugh, age 10. Sariahh Snow, age 11. Khedarrion Snow, age 6. Braylon snow, age 5.”
Green said the “tragic act of violence” impacted families, neighbors and the entire city of Shreveport, a city about 180,000 residents in northwestern Louisiana.
“We also mindful of our survivors, including two women and a 13-year-old child,” Green said. “We ask that you would keep them in your prayers and as they continue to recover from their injuries and the uncertain times ahead.”
Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said Monday that both an adult and a child jumped from the roof of a home while fleeing Shamar Elkins, who is suspected of killing eight children – seven of his own – in a domestic shooting in Louisiana.
Smith said the first 911 caller reported being on top of the house while the suspect was inside and had shot a man.
The caller later told police that multiple people inside the home had been shot and that she and her children had escaped from the roof into the backyard.
“It was a child and an adult,” Smith said. “[They] jumped off the roof and they both are in stable condition.”
The girlfriend of Shamar Elkins, the man suspected of killing eight children in a domestic shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, had called 911 reporting that she had been shot and that Elkins took her three children, authorities said.
Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith on Monday told reporters at a press conference that the department received the call from the woman at 6:07 a.m. in the 500 block of Harrison Street.
Police identified the suspect as Elkins and connected him to another shooting that had unfolded minutes earlier at a nearby home, Smith said.
When officers located the vehicle at 6:40 a.m., no children were inside the vehicle. It was unclear where the children were eventually found.
Elkins is accused of killing eight children between the ages of 3 and 11. Seven of the eight children were his own, officials said.
Smith said that two adult victims who Elkins shot were his wife and girlfriend. They were both hospitalized and recovering. One victim was shot multiple times.
{{#rendered}}Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith on Monday gave a timeline of the domestic shooting that left eight children and the suspected shooter dead a day earlier, saying that morning will be “written in the pages of history as one of the worst days that could have ever happened here in Shreveport.”
5:55 a.m. – Shreveport police receive the first 911 call from a caller on top of a house reporting a shooting at a home in the 300 block of West 79th Street.
5:58–5:59 a.m. – Additional calls identify the suspect as a relative and indicate about nine people are inside the home. Caller reports the suspect, identified as Shamar Elkins, shot multiple people inside.
6:00 a.m. – Caller and children escape from the roof into backyard; officers arrive on scene.
6:03–6:05 a.m. – Officers make contact with the caller and request fire personnel to stage nearby.
6:07 a.m. – A second shooting is reported in the 500 block of Harrison Street. A woman says her boyfriend shot her, abducted her three children, and fled.
6:08 a.m. – The suspect is identified as Elkins.
6:10 a.m. – Police determine both shootings are connected.
6:15 a.m. – Officers learn the suspect carjacked a red Kia Sportage near West 79th Street and Linwood.
6:17–6:18 a.m. – Police units on random patrol spot the vehicle traveling south on Interstate 49, crossing into Bossier City.
6:20 a.m. – Officers get information that the abducted children may be inside the vehicle.
6:23 a.m. – The suspect exits near the Swan Lake area.
6:25 a.m. – Officers locate the injured victim from the Harrison Street shooting.
6:29–6:30 a.m. – Officers confront the suspect on Brompton Lane; gunfire is exchanged.
6:40 a.m. – The suspect vehicle is found empty; no children are inside.
6:43 a.m. – Officers clear the West 79th Street home and find multiple victims dead.
7:03 a.m. – Shamar Elkins is pronounced dead at the scene on Brompton Lane.
7:14 a.m. – Louisiana State Police are called in to investigate the officer-involved shooting.
Shamar Elkins, 31, was killed in a confrontation with police after authorities said he killed eight children in a domestic shooting that rocked the community of Shreveport, Louisiana, on Sunday.
In the hours after the deadly mass shooting, which also left two adult women and a teenager wounded, more details about Elkins have emerged.
An Army official told Fox News Digital that Elkins previously served in the Louisiana Army National Guard.
Police spokesperson Chris Bordelon said Elkins had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, though added that officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.
Elkins and his wife were going through a separation and were due in court Monday, according to Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the women who were shot. She told The Associated Press that the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.
“He murdered his children,” Brown said. “He shot his wife.”
Elkins had four children with his wife and three children with another woman who lived close by and was also shot, according to Brown. All the children were together at one house, she said.
Authorities did not say what may have set off the violence but Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Some of the eight children killed in a domestic shooting early Sunday at a home in Shreveport, Louisiana, had tried to escape when the gunfire erupted, officials said.
The children who were killed ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old and included three boys and five girls, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office. Police said seven are believed to be the children of the suspected gunman, whom they identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins.
Seven of the children were killed inside a home, and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, police spokesperson Chris Bordelon said. Another child jumped off the roof and was expected to survive after being taken to a hospital.
State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door.
“I can’t even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said at a news conference.
Crystal Brown, who is a cousin of one of the two adult women who were also shot in the rampage, described all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”
Police said Elkins had also shot mother of his children, who is expected to survive, and another woman who is suffering life-threatening injuries. A teenage victim also suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
{{#rendered}}Officials in Shreveport, Louisiana, were set to speak Monday afternoon about a domestic shooting that left eight children dead before police killed a suspect during a confrontation.
The press conference will be held at 12:00 p.m. ET at Government Plaza in the city.
Authorities have identified Shamar Elkins as the suspected shooter. Officers shot and killed Elkins in Bossier City after police say he carjacked a vehicle and led officers on a chase.
Seven of the eight children, aged from about 3 to 11, are believed to be Elkins’ children, police said.
Shreveport, Louisiana, police identified Shamar Elkins as the suspect in the shooting that killed eight children, including a 3-year-old, calling it a “heinous act.”
Shreveport Police Department Corporal Christopher Bordelon released the identity while speaking with reporters near the crime scene on Sunday evening. He also said seven of the eight children killed are believed to be Elkins’ children.
Police said the violence unfolded early Sunday during what investigators described as a domestic incident. Eight children, ranging in age from about 3 to 11, were found dead at a home in the 300 block of West 79th Street.
Authorities said Elkins shot the mother of his children, who is expected to survive, while another female who was shot is suffering from life-threatening injuries. A teenage victim also sustained injuries that are considered non-life-threatening.
According to investigators, the suspect first shot an adult female on Harrison Street before traveling to the West 79th Street residence, where the killings occurred. After fleeing, he allegedly carjacked a man at gunpoint near Linwood Avenue and West 79th Street before officers located the vehicle and initiated a pursuit.
The chase continued into Bossier Parish, where officers confronted the suspect and opened fire, killing him at the scene. Authorities said no officers were injured.
Louisiana State Police have taken over the investigation into the officer-involved shooting, while Shreveport police continue to investigate the killings, and are asking anyone with information, photos or video to come forward.
Elkins previously served in the Louisiana Army National Guard, officials said.
“Shamar D. Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020 as a Signal Support System Specialist (25U) and a Fire Support Specialist (13F),” an Army official told Fox News Digital. “He has no deployment. He left the Army as a private.”
Coverage for this event has ended.