At least eight children were killed, and two adults were wounded in a mass shooting in the Louisiana city of Shreveport, in what police called a “domestic violence incident”.

Chris Bordelon, the Shreveport police department spokesperson, said on Sunday evening that the suspect, Shamar Elkins, killed seven of his own children and wounded their mother, as well as killing another child.

The victims ranged in age from one to about 12 years old. The mother and another woman are in critical condition. Elkins died after a police pursuit.

Bordelon said the suspect had been arrested in 2019 in a firearms case.

Wayne Smith, Shreveport’s police chief, said the suspected killer was shot and killed by police after he committed a carjacking.

The violence occurred early on Sunday morning in Shreveport’s Cedar Grove neighborhood, with police suggesting there were at least four separate but nearby scenes involved in the deadly rampage. Investigators did not discuss a possible motive for the killings but said it appeared to be domestic in nature.

The relationship between the killer and the children means that Sunday’s mass murder in Shreveport fit the definition of a type of offense known since the 1980s as a family annihilation.

The overwhelming majority of these cases involve a male killer armed with a gun who ultimately kills himself or is killed after murdering multiple close family members. American communities tend to view family annihilations as isolated tragedies. But a July 2023 Indianapolis Star investigation found they had been occurring across the US every five days on average.

At a news conference, Shreveport mayor Tom Arceneaux said, “this is a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve … had” in recent memory in the north-western Louisiana city of about 177,000 people.

“It’s a terrible morning in Shreveport, and we all know my heart goes out to this entire community for the tragic event that has taken place this morning,” Arceneaux said.

US House speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican whose congressional district includes Shreveport, issued a statement saying Sunday’s violence was “heartbreaking”.

“My team is in touch with local law enforcement as more details emerge,” Johnson’s statement said. “We’re holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time.”

Heading into Sunday, there had been at least six mass murders across the US in 2026, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive – a non-partisan reference resources – defines mass murders as cases in which four or more victims are killed.

Liza Demming, who lives two doors down from one of the shooting scenes in Shreveport, told the Associated Press that her security camera captured video of the gunman running away toward a tire shop.

She said she could hear two shots on the audio.

“That’s pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house,” she said.

Demming said she later saw the covered body of one of the child victims laying on the roof of the house. But she said she never heard anything like a fight or argument.

“It was nothing loud, no altercations,” she said. “It was quiet.”

According to the AP, pastor Marty T Johnson Sr of the local St Gabriel community Baptist church owns the home where the shootings occurred. However, he said that he doesn’t know the family who rented the home and never had dealings with them.

Marty Johnson said a person who works for him had rented the home to the family.

He said all he knows is from what he’s heard from news reports and neighbors – but he’s ready to do whatever he can to help.

“I do plan on having a prayer vigil for the family, and anything I can do – with so many children, to help them bury the children, I’m going to do so,” Marty Johnson said.

“We’ve got to take our community back, and we will.”

Cleo Fields, a Louisiana Democratic congressional representative, whose district also includes part of Shreveport, said the investigation into Sunday’s mass murder was “extensive and deeply painful”.

“A crime scene spanning four locations, eight children gone ranging in age from just one to fourteen years old – there are no words,” Fields said.

In another high-profile mass shooting in the US over the weekend, five people were injured on Saturday night during a fight near the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa. Three of the wounded were reportedly students.

One of the injured was in critical condition, and the remaining wounded were considered stable, police said.

Police did not immediately announce any arrests in connection with Saturday night’s Iowa City shooting.

“While we await additional information, I am thinking about these students and their families, friends, and all the people who care about them,” Barbara Wilson, the president of University of Iowa, said in a statement. “I am holding them close in my thoughts, along with everyone in our community who is hurting or feeling shaken right now.”

The shooting near the university campus was among more than 110 mass shootings in the US so far in 2026, according to the Gun Violence Archive. The archive defines mass shooting as cases in which four or more victims are wounded or killed.

The US’s perennially high rates of mass shootings have prompted calls for more substantial gun control. But Congress over the years has been unable or unwilling to heed such calls, with lawmakers who support keeping firearms as accessible as possible often responding to deadly mass shootings with prayers rather than with legislative action.

Gabrielle Giffords, a former Democratic congressional representative of Arizona, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011 and is a gun violence prevention advocate, issued a statement saying “all of us should be outraged that we live in a country that routinely subjects our kids to such unimaginable violence”.

“Our children have no option but to trust us to keep them safe, but our country is failing them every day,” her statement said. Referring in part to Louisiana’s capital and the state legislature based there, the statement from Giffords – who is married to US senator Mark Kelly – also said: “Both Congress and Baton Rouge have a moral duty to do better.

“Our leaders must act – now.”

The Associated Press contributed reporting