Authorities identify Louisiana father who killed 8 children in Shreveport

Authorities have identified gunman Shamar Elkins, 31, and named the eight children he fatally shot early April 19 in Shreveport, Louisiana, in what authorities called a domestic violence incident. 

The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office identified three boys and five girls ranging in age from 3 to 11 — all murdered. Seven of the victims were Elkins' own children, and one was a cousin, according to KTAL 6, an NBC affiliate. 

Attack spanned two homes before police chase

Elkins struck two homes. He first shot his wife, Shaneiqua Elkins, in the head and the stomach, according to a source who spoke with the New York Times. Shaneiqua is the mother of some of the children and is expected to survive, according to multiple reports.

Mr. Elkins then traveled to a separate home where his children and their cousin were staying. He shot the eight children and a second woman there.

Shreveport Police spokesman Chris Bordelon said during an April 20 press conference that the woman is believed to be Elkins' girlfriend, according to NBC. 

Family members confirmed to KSLA that Christina Snow, Elkins' alleged girlfriend, was the other woman shot. 

AP News, however, identified the second woman shot as Shaneiqua's sister, Keosha Pugh. Her identity has not been officially confirmed as of the evening of April 20. 

Pugh was at the second home when Elkins entered but escaped through a roof window with her 12-year-old daughter, making frantic calls to police as she fled, according to AP News. Pugh broke her pelvis falling from the roof during her escape and the child was taken to a local hospital with a broken leg, Bordelon told the Shreveport-Bossier Advocate. 

A second child who attempted to escape was fatally shot on the roof, according to KTAL and NBC. 

Shaneiqua Elkins was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, the Times reported. The second woman's condition also remained serious. "We are hopeful she will still recover," Bordelon said. 

Bordelon said at the press conference that it appeared many of the children were shot in their sleep and that most were shot in the head. "It is a disgusting and evil scene," he said. 

Police Chief Wayne Smith told reporters at the press conference, "I just don't know what to say. My heart is just taken aback. I just cannot begin to imagine how such an event can occur."

Elkins fled the scene, carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint, and led police on a high-speed chase into neighboring Bossier City, where he was fatally shot, according to NBC. It was not clear whether he was killed by officers or by a self-inflicted gunshot, Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said, according to AP News. 

Family describes mental health struggles before shooting

Relatives told the Times that Elkins had been struggling with his mental health and was distressed over his marriage. He had voluntarily checked into a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in January for just over a week, according to the AP. 

On Easter Sunday, he called his mother, Mahelia Elkins, and stepfather, Marcus Jackson, in tears, saying he wanted to take his own life and that Shaneiqua wanted a divorce, the Times reported. He told Jackson he was drowning in "dark thoughts."

"I told him, 'You can beat stuff, man. I don't care what you're going through, you can beat it,'" Jackson told the Times. "Then I remember him telling me: 'Some people don't come back from their demons.'"

Elkins’ brother-in-law Troy Brown said the alleged shooter appeared stable after leaving the VA and seemed fine the day before the shooting, according to the AP. "All I know is he just snapped," Brown told the AP. "If I wouldn't have been at work, he was going to kill everybody in the house and that includes me."

Elkins and Shaneiqua were separating and had a court date scheduled for April 20, the AP reported. Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the women shot, told the AP the couple had been arguing about the separation. Family members described Shaneiqua as a devoted mother. "She raised those kids right," said Lionel Pugh, her uncle, according to the AP. "They were the center of her universe." 

Cousin Francine Monro Brown told the AP she often saw the children playing in the yard on Sunday mornings when she was on her way to church. "Happy children, joyful children. Shaneiqua is a great mother. She provided a great home for the kids," Monro Brown said. Among those killed was 5-year-old Braylon Snow, who was set to walk in a preschool graduation next month, the AP reported.

Court records show Elkins had a prior weapons conviction. He pleaded guilty to illegal use of a weapon in 2019 after firing five rounds at a vehicle near a schoolyard, according to NBC News. Under Louisiana law, such a conviction carries a ban on firearm possession for at least 10 years after completing a sentence and probation, the AP reported. Authorities said the investigation into how Elkins obtained the weapons used in the shooting is ongoing. The U.S. Army confirmed Elkins served in the Louisiana National Guard from 2013 to 2020 as a private with no deployments, according to NBC News.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux called the shooting "maybe the worst tragic situation we've ever had in Shreveport" at an April 19 press conference, according to NBC News. 

"We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner's personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community,” he said. “We all mourn with these families. I ask, it's a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large."