SHREVEPORT, La. (NEXSTAR) — Eight children were killed and three people, including a teenager, were injured in a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, authorities have confirmed. The suspect is also dead, after being fatally shot by police, and investigators are now reviewing multiple crime scenes in what they have called “a tragic domestic violence incident.”
Police were initially called to a shooting that happened just after 6 a.m. on Sunday, Christopher Bordelon with the Shreveport Police Department said during a morning press conference.
In a Sunday afternoon update, Shreveport Police said the suspect shot a woman at a home on Harrison Street before traveling to another residence, “where this heinous act was carried out.”
Shreveport Police say eight children, ranging in ages from 1 to 14 years old, were killed.
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. Some of the children shot were related to the suspect, according to Bordelon.
Authorities say the suspect then fled the scene, carjacked a man at gunpoint, and took off in the stolen vehicle, police explained. Officers quickly located the vehicle and launched a pursuit that continued into Bossier Parish.
“Officers were forced to discharge their department-issued firearms, neutralizing the suspect, who was pronounced deceased at the scene,” police said.
In addition to the children who were killed, Shreveport Police said two women were seriously injured and are now receiving treatment at a local hospital. A teenager also sustained non-life-threatening injuries. Police did not say how these victims were hurt.
No officers were harmed in the shooting, which is now under investigation by Louisiana State Police. Shreveport Police said “no wrongdoing is suspected” among the involved officers.
“This is an unimaginable tragedy that has deeply impacted our entire community,” the department said in a Sunday update. “The loss of these young lives is devastating, and our hearts are with the families affected.”
Officials said they were still gathering details about the crime scene, which extended across three residential locations.
Nexstar’s KTAL captured the photos below showing authorities at multiple locations.
Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, are dead after a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 19, 2026. The suspect was fatally shot by officers following a police pursuit in a stolen car, authorities said. (KTAL)
Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, are dead after a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 19, 2026. The suspect was fatally shot by officers following a police pursuit in a stolen car, authorities said. (KTAL)
Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, are dead after a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 19, 2026. The suspect was fatally shot by officers following a police pursuit in a stolen car, authorities said. (KTAL)
Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, are dead after a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 19, 2026. The suspect was fatally shot by officers following a police pursuit in a stolen car, authorities said. (KTAL)
Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, are dead after a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 19, 2026. The suspect was fatally shot by officers following a police pursuit in a stolen car, authorities said. (KTAL)
Eight children, ranging in age from 1 to 14 years old, are dead after a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on April 19, 2026. The suspect was fatally shot by officers following a police pursuit in a stolen car, authorities said. (KTAL)
“This is an extensive scene unlike anything most of us have ever seen,” Chief Wayne Smith said earlier Sunday.
Police did not yet have a motive but described the incident as a domestic disturbance.
“This is a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport,” Mayor Tom Arceneaux said during Sunday’s press conference. “It’s a terrible morning in Shreveport, and we all mourn with the victims.”
Liza Demming, who lives two houses down from where one of the attacks happened, said her security camera captured video of the suspect running away, along with the sound of two shots.
Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof. She said she did not know the gunman’s name.
Pastor Marty T. Johnson Sr. of St. Gabriel Community Baptist Church owns the home where the shootings occurred but says that he doesn’t know the family who rented the home and never had dealings with them. Johnson says a person who works for him had rented the home to the family.
This was the deadliest mass shooting in the U.S. since eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb in January 2024, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
