SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A Louisiana man who fatally shot seven of his children and another child in an attack against his family was in the middle of separating from his wife, who also was shot and wounded, a relative said.

The violence that unfolded early Sunday across two houses in Shreveport, Louisiana, was one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years.

The gunman’s wife, who family members say is the mother of some of the children, and another woman were critically wounded, according to the Shreveport Police Department. The police said in a statement Monday that they are hopeful both women will recover.

The shooter, identified as Shamar Elkins, died after fleeing and a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him.

Officials said the children — three boys and five girls — ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old. Another person jumped off the roof of the house and was expected to survive.

“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.”

Elkins and his wife, identified by family members as Shaneiqua Elkins, were separating and had been due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, a cousin of a woman shot in the attack. She said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.

“He murdered his children,” Brown said.

Family members described Shaneiqua Elkins as a doting mother, who celebrated her children’s success in school and carefully dressed them before family events.

“She raised those kids right,” said Lionel Pugh, Shaneiqua Elkins’ uncle. “They were the center of her universe.”

The violence started before sunrise Sunday

Authorities said the shooting erupted before dawn, when Elkins shot a woman at a home in a neighborhood south of downtown. He then went to the other house a few blocks away and began shooting the children, police said. Elkins’ nephew was among the slain children, according to the Caddo Parish coroner’s office.

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.

Demming later went outside and saw the covered body of a child on the home’s roof.

State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back of the house. “I can’t even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said.

Mourners laid flowers outside the single-story house on 79th Street and others lit candles for the victims in the parking lot of a nearby shopping plaza.

“It just makes you take your children and hug them and hold them and tell them how much you love them,” said Kimberlin Jackson, who attended the vigil.

Gunman had no recent arrests for domestic violence, police say

Investigators were not aware of other domestic violence issues involving Elkins, said police spokesperson Chris Bordelon.

Elkins had served in the Louisiana National Guard from 2013 to 2020 as a signal support system specialist and a fire support specialist, said guard spokesperson Lt. Col. Noel Collins. Elkins held the rank of private and had no deployments, Collins said.

He did not appear to have an extensive criminal history in court records, which showed he was placed on probation in 2019 after pleading guilty to illegal use of weapons. In that case, Elkins fired five rounds at a vehicle and told police that someone inside it had pulled a gun on him, according to a police report.

Brown, the cousin of one of the women who were shot, said she was at church Sunday morning when the pastor told congregants about the shooting at the end of the service. She described the children as happy and friendly.

“They worked, came home, they stuck to themselves,” she said. “Just an everyday family.”

The mayor of Shreveport, a city about 180,000 residents in northwestern Louisiana, called it a tragic situation. “Maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had,” said Tom Arceneaux.

The shooting in Shreveport was the deadliest in the U.S. since January 2024, when eight people were killed in a Chicago suburb, according to a database maintained by The Associated Press and USA Today in partnership with Northeastern University.