SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A gunman in Louisiana killed eight children and shot two other people Sunday in an early morning attack of domestic violence carried out across two houses, a mass shooting that shook a Shreveport neighborhood, authorities said.
The suspect died after a police pursuit, and the victims — who ranged in age from 1 to about 14 years old — included children related to the gunman, said Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Investigators did not say what may have set off the attack.
The mass shooting was the deadliest in the U.S. in more than two years.
“This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” Bordelon said.
Officers fired at the suspect during a chase after he carjacked a vehicle at gunpoint while leaving the scene, Bordelon said.
Police said the attacks began in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport when the suspect shot a woman at one home and then drove to the other location “where this heinous act was carried out.”
State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to escape out the back door. “I can't even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said at a news conference.
Authorities did not release the name of the gunman but did say he was an adult male.
Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where most of the victims were shot, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away along with the sound of two shots.
“That’s’ pretty much all I saw, was him running out of the house and the cars leaving,” she said.
Source: WPLG
