An unimaginable tragedy in Louisiana unfolded Sunday after a man identified as Shamar Elkins killed his seven children and their cousin before later being fatally shot by police during a car chase. Now, it has been revealed he made chilling remarks about “demons” just weeks before the horrifying incident.
Just after 6 a.m. on Sunday, April 19, Shreveport police officers responded to a call regarding a domestic disturbance, police spokesperson Christopher Bordelon said.
Inside a home in Shreveport, Louisiana, police discovered eight children—seven of them the suspect’s own children and one his cousin—dead. Bordelon said most of the victims were shot in the head while they were sleeping. The suspect was identified as Shamar Elkins.
Elkins’ wife, along with a woman believed to be his girlfriend, were also shot and seriously injured in the attack. An eight-year-old child reportedly attempted to escape through the roof before being shot.
The children killed were three boys and five girls, aged 3 to 11, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office. Police had earlier estimated their ages as about 1 to 14.
Their mothers identified them as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.
Father kills 8 kids, including 7 of his own in mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana
“I just don’t know what to say. My heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith told reporters, per NBC News. “I just cannot begin to imagine how such an event can occur.”
State Rep. Tammy Phelps told the Associated Press that some children tried to escape through the back door.
“I can’t even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said at a news conference.
Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the wounded women, told AP that Shamar Elkins and his wife were in the process of separating and were due in court Monday.
“He murdered his children. He shot his wife,” she said, describing all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”
Elkins was later killed by police during an attempted carjacking. According to a database maintained by AP in partnership with Northeastern University, the Shreveport killings were the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024.
Suspect Shamar Elkin’s chilling remark weeks before killing 8 children
Now, new details about suspected killer Shamar Elkins have emerged.
According to a New York Times report, he had confessed to being overwhelmed by “dark thoughts” weeks before the killings. He told his stepfather that some people “don’t come back from their demons.”
On Easter Sunday, Elkins called his mother, Mahelia Elkins, and his stepfather, Marcus Jackson. He said he wanted a divorce from his wife and that he wanted to end his life.
“I told him, ‘You can beat stuff, man. I don’t care what you’re going through, you can beat it,’” Jackson told The New York Times. “Then I remember him telling me: ‘Some people don’t come back from their demons.’”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family amid this devastating tragedy.
