In the weeks leading up to the execution-style, fatal sʜᴏᴏᴛings of his seven children, Shamar Elkins brooded on social media about troubles in his marriage and asked God for help.
He shared a graphic on Facebook on March 8, the text asking fathers if they would consider having children again if they could do so with different women.
“Hell yeah I would,” Elkins captioned it. Days later, he asked God to “help me guard my mind and my emotions.”
But in the wee hours of Sunday morning, Elkins unleashed a tirade of violence across Shreveport that stunned north Louisiana’s largest city. Before the sun rose, police say he sʜᴏᴛ and wounded two women, the mothers of his children, before killing eight children — seven of them his own, one his nephew — at two homes blocks apart.

Elkins then carjacked a red Kia SUV and led officers on a chase over the Red River, into Bossier Parish and to the Bossier City home of a man who had mentored Elkins in the Louisiana National Guard. The chase ended outside the man’s house around 7 a.m., with gunfire and Elkins’ death.
The slain children, police said, ranged from 3 to 11 years old. Some died as they slept. Those who died were 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.
A ninth child survived, breaking bones while escaping through a window.

The violence marked the deadliest U.S. mass-sʜᴏᴏᴛing in more than two years, officials said, and Louisiana’s largest mass-casualty event since the January 1, 2025 attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.
It stood apart from other recent mass killings because of its roots in domestic abuse, which researchers call a significant health risk for women, but rarely a source of such mass carnage within a single family. The spate of violence, which Shreveport’s mayor and police chief separately called the worst day in the city’s history, spurred frantic questions about the ᴋɪʟʟᴇʀ’s background. Residents in Shreveport lit candles and held memorials to commemorate the children and pray for healing.

Court records, social media posts and interviews with relatives paint a picture of a 31-year-old UPS driver, sanitation worker and Louisiana National Guard veteran who spent years in disputes with romantic partners over custody of their children before Sunday’s violence.
The Washington Post reported that Elkins had recently been hospitalized for mental health issues. But while Elkins sometimes appeared troubled, and had a 2019 conviction for firing a pistol near a school, people who knew him said they saw few signs he might resort to such violence.
Troy Brown, who lived with Elkins and whose son died in the rampage, told The Post that Elkins “had his head on straight.”

Family struggles
In a 2016 lawsuit filed by the state Department of Children and Family Services in Caddo Parish, the child welfare agency said Elkins had “neglected” a daughter born in 2014, Sariahh Renea Snow, and asked a judge to compel him to make child support payments. In a handwritten response to the petition, Elkins accused the child’s mother of trying to run his girlfriend over with her car and said not being able to see his daughter had been deeply painful.

“The only thing I desire is quality time with my child without the mother being involved,” he wrote.
Elkins’ relationship with Sariahh’s mother, Christine Snow, appeared to shift later. They had two more children together after the lawsuit, and she tagged him in posts on Facebook thanking him for his support raising Sariahh and their two other children, Khedarrion and Braylon. All three were killed Sunday.

Khedarrion’s principal at Summer Grove Elementary recently celebrated improvements in his reading test scores with him, the Caddo Schools superintendent said Monday. And another Summer Grove teacher described Sariahh as always willing to help.
“She worked really hard,” the teacher said, according to a statement from the superintendent. “She had a big, beautiful smile and always was sweet as could be. She was quiet and oh, so sweet.”
Elkins sʜᴏᴛ Christine Snow in the rampage, The Washington Post reported, but her condition was unclear Monday.

Criminal history
Elkins had no history of criminal domestic violence arrests, a Shreveport police spokesperson said. But he did have brushes with the law over the years.

Court records show Elkins was arrested in 2015 for driving while intoxicated and again in 2019 for firing a 9mm pistol near a school. In the latter case, he pleaded guilty to illegal use of a weapon after firing the handgun five times at a car driving away from his then-residence at 8020 Matthew Place, which was within 1,000 feet of Caddo Middle Magnet, court records show.

Elkins later told police a passenger in the car had pulled a gun on him. A charge of carrying a weapon within 1,000 feet of a school was dismissed after he pleaded guilty to the first count. Elkins was given a one-year suspended sentence and complied with 18 months of supervised probation, avoiding jail time, records show. He told a judge he had a high school degree.

On Monday, officials said Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were investigating how Elkins secured a gun given his felony convictions, and an FBI spokesperson said the agency has offered help with the investigation.
Elkins served in the Louisiana National Guard from 2013 until 2020, a National Guard spokesperson said, as a signal support system and fire support specialist. Guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins said Elkins had no deployments and was discharged with the rank of private after his enlistment period was complete.

‘I was totally unaware’

In a since-deleted Facebook post circulated Monday by current and former Guard members, a man who identified himself as Elkins’ former commander said he had “helped raise” Elkins and spoke to him about a “possible divorce” the day before the sʜᴏᴏᴛings.
The man, Michael Mayence, wrote that Elkins drove to Mayence’s house in Bossier City Sunday morning after the sʜᴏᴏᴛings — “I guess looking for that safety that he had in me as his adopted uncle and trusted officer,” Mayence wrote. As police arrived and opened fire, Elkins sʜᴏᴛ himself with a short AR-15-style carbine he was carrying, Mayence wrote.

“I was totally unaware of all of the events taking place this morning when my cameras suddenly activated that there was activity in my doorway,” he wrote. “I went and heard his voice, my nephew, and then opened the door unknowingly, and he was standing there.”
Mayence did not respond to multiple messages requesting an interview and seeking to confirm the since-deleted account. In his Facebook post, he wrote that he never contemplated that Elkins was prone to violence.

Louisiana State Police are investigating the sʜᴏᴏᴛing in Bossier City, including whether Elkins sʜᴏᴛ himself or was killed by police.
In documents from the 2016 DCFS lawsuit, Elkins reported income from work with a local sanitation company, Red River Sanitors. The company did not respond to a message seeking details of his work history.

Elkins’ handwritten note filed with that lawsuit described how he struggled as his relationship with Sariahh and her mother changed.
He complained of only being able to see his daughter when he “was buying her something.”
“Me and Sariahh had a good relationship until me and her mother separated around September 1, 2015,” Elkins wrote. “After this date, the mother of Sariahh was changing. She was keeping me from my child. When she did come around, she was being uncivilized.”