The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office identified eight children killed in a Shreveport classroom of family violence on April 19. The children were shot in a domestic incident that police say began on Harrison Street and moved to a second home on W 79th Street near Linwood.
The victims were three boys and five girls ages 3 to 11. Police said only two women survived after 10 people were shot across four locations, a toll that left families and investigators sorting through a scene spread across two cities.
Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office
The office said seven siblings and a cousin were among the dead. Police identified Shamar Elkins as the man responsible for shooting and killing the eight children and injuring two women, and said he was the father of seven of the eight children he reportedly shot and killed.
One child killed was not Elkins’ child. A 13-year-old boy escaped after jumping off the roof of the home and suffered broken bones, giving investigators one surviving witness from inside the house.
Shreveport Police
One of the women shot was Elkins’ wife, who was shot in the face and underwent surgery. The other woman’s condition was described as very serious. Cpl. Chris Bordelon said, “These victims, we have to do right by them.”
Police said Elkins was fatally shot in the 400 block of Brompton Lane in Bossier City after a police chase. Chief Wayne Smith said, “It was not clear at this time whether he died at his own hands or from a shot fired by police.”
Louisiana State Police
Louisiana State Police is investigating the shooting and described the scene by saying, “This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen.” Police said the case stretches across the eighth through 15th homicides in Shreveport so far this year, putting a number on how far the violence reached beyond one home.
For the families involved, the immediate reality is that the children have been identified and the case has moved into a state investigation. For everyone else in Shreveport, the work now is less about waiting for a new headline than about following the facts that investigators say will sort out how the shooting moved from one address to another, and how it ended in Bossier City.
