Sean JamesApr 19th, 2026, 7:19 pm

A 31-year-old Army veteran named Shamar Elkins was identified as the gunman who shot and killed eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana on Sunday in what CNN’s Jessica Dean reported was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. in more than two years.

Shreveport Police Department Corporal Christopher Bordelon said Elkins was the father of seven of the eight kids who were murdered. Dean reported all of the kids were 14 years old or younger.

Elkins injured three other people in the shooting, with one of the victims in critical condition while the other two suffered non-life threatening injuries. The New York Post reported two of those victims were women who were shot in the head.

He was later shot and killed by cops after fleeing the scene, stealing a vehicle at gunpoint, and leading officers on a chase. The Post reported Elkins had posted a picture of himself with one of his daughters on social media just before the attack at around 6:00 a.m. local time.

Elkins had posted about mental health issues earlier this month. “Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions, ” he said in one post on April 9.

“When depression tries to settle in, when anger rises, when anxiety or panic comes, give me the awareness to recognize what is not from You and the strength to reject it immediately in the name of JESUS,” Elkins said in another post.

Authorities said the shooting followed a domestic dispute, but that a motive was still being investigated.

Former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis told Dean that the local cops will now investigate how the suspect got his weapon, and whether there are eyewitnesses who can speak to the carnage.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said the shooting was “maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had.”

Watch CNN’s report above.

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