Eight children — the youngest 18 months old, the oldest 14 — were shot dead early Sunday in Shreveport, Louisiana, in what police described as a domestic violence attack carried out across two neighboring homes.

Seven of the children were found inside one residence. An eighth was found dead on the roof, having apparently tried to escape, according to police. A neighbor’s security camera later captured the sound of gunfire and the figure of a man running from the house.

By the time officers arrived at the 300 block of West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood just after 6 a.m. local time, the gunman had fled. He carjacked a vehicle nearby and led police on a pursuit into neighboring Bossier Parish, where officers shot and killed him, according to Shreveport Police Corporal Chris Bordelon.

Two adults were also wounded. Their conditions were not immediately released.

The suspect was an adult male and the father of at least some of the children killed, according to police. His name has not been released. Investigators have not disclosed a possible motive.

“Unlike anything most of us have ever seen”

The crime scene spanned three locations south of downtown Shreveport: two adjacent residences on West 79th Street, a third home on nearby Harrison Street, and the site of the carjacking. Bordelon described one of the scenes as “incredibly gruesome in nature” and said processing it would take several hours.

“This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” Bordelon told reporters at a news conference outside one of the homes.

Liza Demming, who lives two houses down, told the Associated Press that her security camera captured the suspect running from the house and the sound of gunshots. She later saw the covered body of a child on the roof. She said the man appeared to be a father who had been with the children just days earlier. “He looks like the dad that comes over here,” she said.

Mack London, 71, who has lived on the block since 1991, stepped outside around 7 a.m. to find the street shut down and neighbors gathering in disbelief. “Nothing like this has ever happened on this street,” he said. “It was bad. I hate that it happened to those kids.”

The numbers

The Shreveport attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States in more than two years, according to a database maintained by the Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University. The last comparable toll came in January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb.

The Gun Violence Archive, which defines a mass shooting as any incident in which four or more people are shot excluding the gunman, had already recorded at least 119 mass shootings in the US this year before Sunday. Those incidents left 117 people dead — 79 of them children — and 458 injured. In 2025, the archive counted 407 mass shootings.

Eight children dead before breakfast on a Sunday morning. The numbers have a rhythm. They accumulate. They recede.

“So many children”

At a news conference, officials appeared stunned. Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith struggled for words. “I just don’t know what to say,” he said. “My heart is just taken aback. I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”

Mayor Tom Arceneaux called it “maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had” in this city of roughly 180,000 in northwestern Louisiana.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he and his wife were “heartbroken over this horrific situation.” House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has represented Shreveport for nearly a decade, called the killings a “heartbreaking tragedy” and said his team was in contact with local law enforcement. “We’re holding the victims, their families and loved ones, and our Shreveport community close in our thoughts and prayers during this incredibly difficult time,” Johnson said.

Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr. of St. Gabriel Community Baptist Church owns one of the homes where the shootings occurred — a person who works for him had rented it to the family, though he said he never had dealings with them directly. He said he planned to hold a prayer vigil and do what he could to help bury the dead. “So many children,” he said.

City Council chair Tabatha Taylor, speaking through tears near the scene, said the slain children “had their whole life ahead of them.” She asked the community to support the family and appealed to mental health professionals. “This family and this community needs you,” she said.

Louisiana State Police have been asked to investigate the officer-involved shooting. Authorities are asking anyone with photographs, video, or information to contact state police detectives.

Sources