Photo: Getty Images
Shamar Elkins has been identified as the suspect in the Sunday (April 19) mass shooting that killed 10 people, including eight children and one woman.
The 31-year-old US Army veteran and former UPS driver killed eight children ages 3 to 11, seven of whom were his own children, and seriously wounded both his wife and a woman believed to be his girlfriend during the shooting, according to NBC News.
“We know it’s domestic in nature, we know his wife is involved, and she is the mother of at least seven of the children, with the eighth being a family friend,” Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon told NBC News.
A family member told police that Elkins and his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh, had reportedly been arguing over a scheduled Monday (April 20) court appearance regarding their divorce prior to the shooting.
Bordelon said the shooting began shortly before sunrise on Sunday.
Elkins shot and seriously wounded Pugh in the head at their home before driving to a second location, where he killed the eight children. Pugh was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries on Sunday and is reportedly in critical condition.
Elkins attempted to escape after carjacking a vehicle while armed with a rifle, leading to a police chase. Officers shot and killed Elkins as he crossed through the Red River in Shreveport, according to a Facebook post by the Shreveport Police Department.
“Officers were forced to discharge their department-issued firearms, neutralizing the suspect, who was pronounced deceased at the scene,” the post reads.
The five girls and three boys killed were identified 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
Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020 as a signal support system specialist and a fire support specialist, and was working as a UPS driver prior to the shooting.
He had reportedly called his mother, Mahelia Elkins, and stepfather, Marcus Jackson, on Easter Sunday (April 5) about how he was experiencing "dark thoughts" and wanted to end his life amid the divorce, according to The New York Times.
“I told him, ‘You can beat stuff, man. I don’t care what you’re going through, you can beat it,” Jackson said. “Then I remember him telling me: ‘Some people don’t come back from their demons.’”
Elkins also posted a photo of himself with his children on his Facebook page on April 5, showing the family attending an Easter church service together for the first time.
“Happy Easter had a wonderful time at church for the first time with all my kids what a blessed day," the post reads.
He also reposted an inspirational prayer on Facebook four days later that read, “Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions.”
Ms. Elkins told the Times that she was not particularly close to her son. She reportedly had him when she was a teenager, but left him to be raised by a family friend, Betty Walker, due to struggling with a crack cocaine addiction at the time.
While they reconnected more than a decade ago, Ms. Elkins said that she was unaware of any issues he was experiencing prior to the shooting.
Court records show that Elkins had prior convictions for driving while intoxicated in 2016 and the illegal use of weapons in 2019, but police are unaware of any previous domestic violence cases.
A database maintained by The Associated Press, in collaboration with Northeastern University, identified the shooting as the deadliest mass shooting in the US since January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb.
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