LEILA FADEL, HOST:
People in Shreveport, Louisiana, held a candlelight vigil Monday the day after a man shot and killed seven of his children and his nephew. Police say it started as a domestic dispute. The suspect died after a carjacking, a chase and a shootout. From Red River Radio in Shreveport, Jeff Ferrell reports.
JEFF FERRELL, BYLINE: At a news conference Monday, Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said the suspect, 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, was known to police.
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WAYNE SMITH: I will say that his name was, in fact, in our system.
FERRELL: In 2019, Elkins was arrested and later convicted for firing a weapon near a school while children were outside. Because of the felony, he was not authorized to have a gun. Police say he allegedly used an assault-style weapon to shoot and kill eight children and injure two women, one of whom was his estranged wife. Her family says she had left him days before the shooting. Smith says federal officials are investigating how Elkins got the weapon. The killings have raised awareness in the community about domestic violence prevention and mental illness, which Elkins' family says he struggled with. Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux made an impassioned plea.
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TOM ARCENEAUX: If you are experiencing abuse and violence in your home, seek the resources. Don't stay where you are. Seek the resources to escape.
FERRELL: The two schools where the children attended classes are offering counseling. Superintendent Keith Burton says he saw a classmate of one of the victims, who was in kindergarten, walk silently down the hall Monday morning.
KEITH BURTON: And as she walked into that calming room, that counseling, that place of safety, she spoke to no one. She just put her head on the shoulder of one of those counselors and just cried.
FERRELL: Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry came to Shreveport last night and announced that a foundation run by his wife will pay for the children's funerals.
For NPR News, I'm Jeff Ferrell in Shreveport, Louisiana. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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