Photo: Nicole Mastrogiannis
Shamar Elkins, the Army veteran accused of killing his seven children and their cousin, had previously confessed to having "dark thoughts" prior to the incident Sunday (April 19) morning, the New York Times reports.
Elkins, 31, killed eight children ages 3 to 11 and seriously wounded two women believed to be his wife and girlfriend during a shooting rampage that spanned multiple homes in Shreveport following an argument with his spouse at around 6:00 a.m. The incident came weeks after the gunman reportedly called his mother, Mahelia Elkins, and stepfather, Marcus Jackson, on Easter Sunday (April 5) and told them he was drowning in "dark thoughts" and wanted to end his life amid his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh, wanting a divorce.
“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.’”
Mahelia Elkins said it was unclear what issues her son, who was killed by responding officers during the pursuit, and his wife, who married in 2024 and shared four of the children killed in the massacre, had gone through, though a relative of one of the wounded women confirmed that the couple was in the middle of a separation and scheduled to appear in court on Monday (April 20).
Five girls and three boys ranging in ages 3 to 11 years old were identified by their mothers, according to coroners, as:
- Jayla Elkins, 3
- Shayla Elkins, 5
- Kayla Pugh, 6
- Layla Pugh, 7
- Markaydon Pugh, 10
- Sariahh Snow, 11
- Khedarrion Snow, 6
- Braylon Snow, 5
Shamar Elkins was identified as the shooter earlier on Sunday. Elkins was an Louisiana Army National Guard veteran who served from August 2013 to August 2020 and worked at UPS at the time of his death. The gunman is suspected to have acted alone.
“We do believe him to be the only individual that fired gunshots at these locations here,” said police spokesperson Christopher Bordelon via NBC News.
Police previously confirmed that some of the children "were his descendants." The incident took place hours after Elkins shared a photo of himself and his eldest daughter on his Facebook account Saturday (April 18) and two weeks after posing with seven children after taking them to church for Easter service.
The Army veteran also hinted at mental-health struggles in another past Facebook post in which he called for God to "guard" his mind on April 9. An investigation into the incident is ongoing.