Vigil held in Louisiana city to mourn 8 children killed in mass shooting
發佈日期: 2026-04-20 20:35
TVB News
In the US state of Louisiana, a gunman killed eight children and left two women injured, including his wife, in a shooting tied to a domestic disturbance early Sunday. The incident was the country's deadliest mass shooting in two years.
The community laid flowers outside the single-story house on 79th Street in Shreveport, a city in the northwestern part of Lousiana, and held a candlelight vigil in a nearby parking lot Sunday evening.
Dozens of mourners, hugging and consoling one another, held back tears as they remembered the children killed.
Kimberlin Jackson, who is a mother and grandmother herself, said "it just makes you take your children and hug them and tell them how much you love them."
She said, "To learn later that I knew one of the children, it really really took a toll on me and I really hate that for the momma period and those children."
Jimmy Claville, who was also at the vigil, said: "Unfortunately, that the tragedy bringing us together. I mean I just wish we could come together without the tragedy."
A Louisiana father has fatally shot eight children, seven of them his own, in a domestic attack in a Shreveport neighbourhood before sunrise.
The gunman was identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, who died after a car chase and interaction with police that ended with officers firing on him.
Police said the man opened fire at a home south of downtown then drove to the second location.
Three boys and five girls were killed inside the second house, some of them tried to get away through the back door.
A spokesman for the local police department said: "Our officers responded, located the eight individuals, the children that were dead. And they tried to provide aid where they could, but ultimately were unable to save any of them. There was a child that jumped off the roof. We were able to get him to a hospital, and he is expected to survive."
He added, "There's also two adult females that were injured during this mass shooting. They are both in critical condition. We are hopeful that they will survive. One is significantly more critical than the other."
Elkins and his wife are said to be in the middle of separating and the couple were due in court on Monday.
According to a relative of the family, Elkins had four kids with his wife and three kids with another woman living nearby that was also shot in the attack.
Officials said the assailant had been arrested in a firearms case in 2019, but they were not aware of any other domestic violence issues linked to Elkins.
