A father has killed seven of his children and another child in Shreveport, Louisiana, in a mass shooting that police called a “domestic disturbance”.
Officers said the shooting began about 05:00 (10:00 GMT) on Sunday. After attacking the children at a property, the suspect drove away in a stolen car, police said. Officers then chased and killed him.
Two adult women, including the children’s mother, are in critical condition after they, too, were hurt by gunfire.And a ninth child was taken to hospital after jumping from the roof of the home while escaping.
The suspect was identified as Shamar Elkins, Shreveport mayor’s communications director told the BBC.
“We do believe him to be the only individual that fired gunshots at these locations,” said Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon in a news conference earlier on Sunday.
Officials have not yet suggested a motive on the gunman’s part.
The children, siblings and one cousin, were three boys and five girls. They were aged between three to 11, the Caddo Parish coroner’s office said.
Local police had earlier said on Sunday the children ranged in age from one to 14.
The coroner’s office said the children were identified by their mothers as 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.
Neighbours described their shock to US media. Mack London, 71, told NBC News he had lived in the area for decades and that “nothing like this has ever happened on this street”.
The attack occurred across multiple locations. The father is alleged to have first shot a woman, before moving to a second location where he fired further shots at the children.
One of the victims was able to run away to a nearby home and called the authorities, police said.
Members of the family told US media that Elkins was facing a split from his wife.
Elkins’s brother-in-law Troy Brown, told the Washington Post that he lived with the attacker, and that Elkins had been upset after his wife requested a divorce. “After the first argument about the divorce, he acted like he was losing his mind,” he told the newspaper.
Crystal Brown, a cousin of one of the wounded women, told the AP news agency that the couple were separating and had been due to appear in court on Monday.