Just hours before horror unfolded in Louisiana, Shamar Elkins posted a picture of himself smiling away with his daughter on social media.
The picture quickly became haunting after the daughter and seven other children, aged between 1 and 12 years, were found lifeless in Shreveport.
The father showed signs of struggling with mental health issues in the lead up to the massacre, saying, “Some people don’t come back from their demons.”
Shamar Elkins posted a picture of himself smiling away with his daughter on social media hours before the violent bloodshed
Image credits: Shamar Elkins
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said the crime scene was “unlike anything” most of them had seen.
News reporters were heard gasping as officials read out the names and ages of the child victims during a press conference: Shayla Elkins, 5; Jayla Elkins, 3; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Layla Pugh, 7; Kayla Pugh, 6; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.
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The 31-year-old Army veteran father fired his weapon at one woman at one address and then fatally struck the eight other children at the second address.
Another woman was also attacked in the incident.
Seven of the children were struck inside the house. The eighth child attempted to escape but was eventually struck and found lifeless on the roof, authorities said.
The father wrote a message along with a photo of his daughter eating a hamburger in his car hours before the rampage
Image credits: Shamar Elkins
Of the eight child victims, seven were Shamar’s children, and one of them was the children’s cousin.
Elkins pulled the trigger on most of the kids while they were asleep, Shreveport Police Department spokesman Christopher Bordelon said.
Image credits: Shaneiqua Elkins
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Cops later chased Elkins and fatally struck him as he drove into the nearby Bossier City.
Both women were hospitalized in critical condition. One of them was his wife, with whom Elkins shared four children. And the other, who was struck in the head, shared three children with him.
It is believed that an argument with his spouse triggered the tragic bloodshed.
It is believed that an argument with his wife, whom he married in 2024, triggered the tragic bloodshed
Image credits: Shamar Elkins
Hours before the rampage, the father shared a picture of himself with his eldest daughter, eating a hamburger inside a vehicle.
“Lol!!!! Took my oldest on a lil 1 on 1 date, had to catch her down bad, ugh ugh,” the father wrote in the Saturday post.
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On Easter Sunday, April 5, 2026, the attacker shared a picture of himself surrounded by his seven children.
“Happy Easter, had a wonderful time at church for the first time with all my kids, what a blessed day,” he wrote alongside the picture on Facebook.
On Easter Sunday, Elkins shared “dark thoughts” about wanting to take his own life
Image credits: Shaneiqua Elkins
The Army vet dad also spoke to his mother, Mahelia Elkins, and his stepfather, Marcus Jackson, on Easter Sunday about his “dark thoughts” of wanting to end his own life.
He told them that his wife, Shaneiqua Pugh, whom he married in 2024, wanted to divorce him.
“I told him, ‘You can beat stuff, man. I don’t care what you’re going through, you can beat it,” the stepfather told the New York Times. “Then I remember him telling me: ‘Some people don’t come back from their demons.’”
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In another post shared on April 9, Elkins showed further signs of struggling with his mental health.
“Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions,” read the post.
“Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions,” the Army veteran wrote on Facebook earlier this year
Image credits: Shaneiqua Elkins
“When negativity arises, remind me to say, ‘It does not belong to me, in the name of Jesus,’” he added.
“When depression tries to settle in, when anger rises, when anxiety or panic comes, give me the awareness to recognize what is not from You and the strength to reject it immediately in the name of JESUS.”
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The Army vet worked at UPS and served with the Louisiana Army National Guard from August 2013 to August 2020 as a signal support system specialist and fire support specialist.
The father was arrested in 2019 for firing five rounds from a firearm into a car as it sped away, just 300 feet away from a Shreveport high school.
Elkins has had two prior convictions in the past
The incident led to his 2019 conviction for the illegal use of weapons.
He was also convicted in 2016 for driving while intoxicated.
If you or someone you know is struggling with self-harm or s**c*dal ideation, help is available: International Hotlines
“Eight children… just gone like that,” one commented online
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