SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (AP) — A Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, during an early morning attack on his family Sunday that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood left shaken by one of the US’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, police said.

Two women, including the gunman’s wife, who was the mother of their children, were also shot and critically injured, according to Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Officials said the children — who were all killed in the same house — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old.

The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him, according to Bordelon. Authorities did not say what may have set off the violence but Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”

The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the US in more than two years.

“I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”

Bordelon said police were familiar with Elkins, who had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, but he said officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.

Police said the attacks began before sunrise 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.”

Seven children were killed inside the second house, and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, Bordelon said.........

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