Neighbours of Shamar Elkins, 31, is accused of killing eight children aged one to 12, have described the moment he was seeing running from the house after the horror shooting
Neighbours of Shamar Elkins, who is accused of killing eight children aged one to 12, have described the moment he was seen “running out the house”.
Police say the Louisiana gunman who shot up two houses early Sunday killed seven of his own children and wounded their mother, as well as killing another child.The horror incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the US in more than two years.
Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon said Sunday evening that the suspect, Shamar Elkins, shot the mother first and then killed the eight children. A total of 10 people were shot, with two women surviving the horrific ordeal. One of the female victims is reported to have suffered life-threatening injuries and is believed to have been shot in the head.
The ordeal unfolded on Sunday morning and saw the gunman approach one address in Shreveport. This was where the terrible massacre took place, reports say.
After the shooting police said Elkins drove to Harrison Street around a quarter of a mile away. He was followed there by police in a high-speed chase after carrying out a carjacking. Elkins then drove to a third location where he was shot and killed by cops.
Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where most of the victims were shot, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away along with the sound of two shots. “That’s pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house and the cars leaving,” she said.
Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof. She said she did not know the gunman’s name. “He looks like the dad that comes over here,” she said, adding that he was just with the children a few days ago.
Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr., of nearby St. Gabriel Community Baptist Church, who owns one of the homes where the shootings occurred, said a person who works for him had rented it to the family, but he never had dealings with them.
“I don’t really know them, I really don’t,” he said. “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.”
Louisiana State Police said their detectives have been asked by Shreveport police to investigate. In a statement, state police said no officers were harmed in the shooting after a police pursuit into Bossier City on Sunday morning.
State police are asking anyone with pictures, video or information to share it with state police detectives.
Louisiana governor Jeff Landry and US House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is from Shreveport, said in separate statements that they were heartbroken and praised law enforcement for their response.
“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,” Mr Johnson said in a statement.
Detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”
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