The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office has identified the eight children shot and killed early Sunday morning in the Cedar Grove neighborhood of Shreveport in what police describe as an act of domestic violence — the deadliest mass shooting in the United States in more than two years.

The victims are Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Khedarrion Snow, 6; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Braylon Snow, 5; Markaydon Pugh, 10; and Sariahh Snow, 11. Seven were siblings; the eighth was a cousin. Three were boys and five were girls. Their deaths mark Shreveport’s eighth through 15th homicides of 2026.

Shreveport Police identified the gunman as Shamar Elkins, 31, a lifelong Shreveport resident and father of seven of the eight children killed. Police say Elkins first shot his wife at a residence on Harrison Street, then proceeded to a separate home on West 79th Street, where he shot the eight children and another woman. Seven children were found dead inside the home. An eighth child was shot on the roof while attempting to escape. A 13-year-old boy escaped by jumping from the roof and sustained non-life-threatening injuries including broken bones.

Elkins’ wife, the mother of seven of the slain children, was shot in the face and remained alive Sunday with serious injuries. A second woman, believed to be Elkins’ girlfriend and the mother of the eighth child killed, was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries. Police say Elkins used an assault-style weapon. The incident spanned four separate crime scenes.

After the shootings, Elkins carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint and fled. Shreveport police pursued him into neighboring Bossier City, where officers shot and killed him. Louisiana State Police are conducting a separate investigation into the officer-involved shooting. Shreveport police said nothing suggests any wrongdoing by officers.

Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from 2013 to 2020 and was never deployed. He had a prior criminal conviction in Caddo District Court after pleading guilty in October 2019 to illegal use of weapons following a 2019 incident in which he fired five rounds near Caddo Magnet High School. He was placed on probation for 18 months.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said he could not “even begin to imagine how such an event can occur.” Mayor Tom Arceneaux called it “maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport” and said the city is working to provide counseling services to classmates of the victims and to first responders. A candlelight vigil was held Sunday evening in the Cedar Grove neighborhood, where community members gathered to lay flowers and stuffed animals in tribute to the children.

Shreveport Police Cpl. Chris Bordelon said investigators are confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident” and that police were not previously aware of any domestic violence history involving Elkins. The motive remains under investigation.