Louisiana authorities have identified eight children – aged three to 11 – who were killed on Sunday during what police described as a “violent domestic incident” in Shreveport that marked the deadliest US mass shooting in more than two years.
The Caddo parish coroner’s office identified the children as Jayla Elkins, three; Shayla Elkins (5); Kayla Pugh (6); Layla Pugh (6); Markaydon Pugh (10); Sariahh Snow (11); Khedarrion Snow (6); and Braylon Snow (5).
The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, fatally shot the children – including seven of his own – at two separate Shreveport houses. Police shot him to death after chasing him after he stole a car, according to investigators.
A total of 11 people were shot during Sunday’s violence, a police spokesperson, Christopher Bordelon, said in a news conference.
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The two women who were injured included Shaneiqua Pugh, the gunman’s wife and mother of four of his children. The other wounded woman reportedly was the mother of Elkins’s three other children.
Both were listed in critical condition.
Bordelon told the Associated Press on Sunday evening that Elkins shot the mother first and then killed eight children. Elkins and Pugh had reportedly been arguing about their separation, over which they were due in court on Monday.
Bordelon said there was still much to investigate – but detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic” case.
The Louisiana state police by Monday had taken over the officers’ killing of Shamar Elkins, saying, “One subject was shot and has been pronounced dead. No officers were harmed during the incident.”
Police have said Elkins had been arrested in 2019 in a firearms case – but they were unaware of any prior domestic violence issues.
Wayne Smith, the Shreveport police chief, said he was “taken aback” by the deadly shooting, adding that members of his agency were out in the community processing the scene. Smith said officers would work diligently for “however long it takes” to find out what happened.
Tom Arceneaux, the Shreveport mayor, meanwhile described the killings as “maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ... had” in recent memory.
Sunday’s killings in Shreveport represent the deadliest US mass shooting since January 2024, when an attacker shot and killed eight people in a suburb of Chicago, according to a USA Today and Associated Press database.
Elkins is reported to have been struggling with mental health problems – but police have not offered a motive. The US army said that Elkins served in the Louisiana army national guard from 2013 to 2020 as a signal support system specialist and a fire support specialist. He later worked for the UPS delivery service.
Relatives described Elkins as stressed about his relationship with his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh. The New York Times reported that he called his mother and stepfather on April 5th, Easter Sunday, and told them through tears that he wanted to take his own life.
He purportedly told his stepfather Marcus Jackson his wife wanted a divorce – and that he was having “dark thoughts”.
Jackson said: “I remember him telling me: ‘Some people don’t come back from their demons.’”
His mother, Mahelia Elkins, told the outlet that she did not know what problems her son was having with his wife.
Elkins had shared a prayer on Facebook – “Dear God, today I ask you to help me guard my mind and my emotions” – and sent them a photo of his family.
His mother told the Times that she had texted him the previous week to ask how they were. He responded: “Everyone is doing OK.” But when she texted on Thursday to send her love to her grandchildren, she received no response back.
Jackson said the first indication he received that something bad had happened was on Sunday when strangers posted on his Facebook that Elkins was “the devil”.
Willie Vasher, a colleague of Elkins’s at UPS, told the Times that Elkins presented as if he were a devoted father – but he often appeared stressed and would pull his hair out, causing a bald spot.
Elkins’s prior brushes with the law included an arrest for allegedly driving while inebriated in 2016 – and in 2019, he allegedly pulled a handgun out of his waistband and shot at a vehicle five times after the driver of the car had pulled a gun on him.
Court records show Elkins pleaded guilty in October 2019 to illegal use of weapons or dangerous instrumentalities.
Aspects of Sunday’s mass killing in Shreveport fit the definition of a type of crime known since the 1980s as a family annihilation.
Sunday’s shooting in Shreveport was the seventh mass killing in the US so far in 2026, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive – a non-partisan reference resource – defines mass killings as cases in which four or more victims are killed. – The Guardian
– The Guardian
