The mother of three children killed over the weekend in a mass shooting in Louisiana is reportedly recovering in hospital with a bullet still lodged in her face.

Jamarckus Snow told NBC News that his cousin, Christina Snow, was one of the two women who were shot and injured early on Sunday when a gunman opened fire on his family in Shreveport. Police described the shooting as a “violent domestic incident” in which 31-year-old Shamar Elkins fatally shot eight children – including seven of his children and a cousin.

The Caddo parish coroner’s office identified the children on Monday as Jayla Elkins, three; Shayla Elkins, five; Kayla Pugh, six; Layla Pugh, six; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, six; and Braylon Snow, five.

Jamarckus told the outlet that Christina’s mother told him that the bullet entered through her nose and remains lodged in her face.

“Doctors say they didn’t want to do surgery and risk it,” Jamarckus said, adding that he had heard that Snow can talk but she has memory issues.

The other woman shot and injured was Elkins’s wife and mother of four of his children, Shaneiqua Pugh. She was also hospitalized in critical condition.

“All she worked for was her kids and all she talked about was her kids,” Jamarckus Snow told NBC News about Christina. “It’s devastating.”

Elkins, a former national guardsman, was shot by police after the shooting and pronounced dead.

Authorities said Elkins had previously been arrested in a 2019 firearms case. Family members have also said that he struggled with mental health issues and had recently expressed suicidal thoughts. He and Pugh had been reportedly arguing about their separation and were due in court on Monday.

The investigation into the shooting remains ongoing. On Tuesday, federal authorities announced that they had arrested a man in Louisiana in connection with the firearm used in the shooting. He has been charged with “being a felon in possession of a firearm and making a false statement to federal agents”, according to the United States attorney’s office for the western district of Louisiana. Federal authorities allege that the man initially denied having the firearm but say that he “later admitted that he did possess the firearm, claiming that he kept the firearm under his seat”.

The authorities allege that the man “further admitted to believing that Elkins took possession of the firearm”.

The shooting marked the deadliest mass killing in the US in two years.