Shreveport Mourns the Heartbreaking Loss Of Young Lives in Cedar Grove Neighborhood

A tragedy in Shreveport is being felt across the nation. Seven siblings and a cousin are shot and killed in a mass shooting in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. It happened early Sunday morning.

READ MORE: First reports of mass shooting in Shreveport

The names of the victims have now been released by the Caddo Parish Coroner's office.

The children, three boys and five girls ranging in age from 3 to 11, were shot just before 6 a.m. at a home in the 300 block of West 79th Street just off of Linwood.

The children were identified by their mothers as 3-year-old Jayla Elkins, 5-year-old Shayla Elkins, 6-year-old Kayla Pugh, 7-year-old Layla Pugh, 10-year-old Markaydon Pugh, 11-year-old Sariahh Snow, 6-year-old Khedarrion Snow, and 5-year-old Braylon Snow.

These deaths are the 8th-15th homicides of the year in Shreveport and Caddo Parish. Autopsies were ordered for all the victims.

SPD says the children were killed during a domestic violence incident. Two adult females were also shot and are being treated for serious wounds at a local hospital. A teenage victim also suffered injuries during the tragedy, but is expected to survive.

Early reports indicate the killer shot a woman at a home on Harrison Street a few blocks away before going to the home on West 79th where he shot a woman and then turned the gun on the children.

The shooter carjacked a man near the intersection of Linwood Avenue and West 79th Street and sped away, but he was followed into north Bossier by Shreveport police.
Officers engaged the shooter who was pronounced dead at the scene.

The killer has been identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins.

Louisiana State Police has been called in to investigate the shooting death of Elkins which happened on Brompton Lane in the Tiburon Subdivision in north Bossier.

No officers were harmed during the incident.