Eight young children have been killed during a mass shooting in Louisiana.
Police officers from the Shreveport Police Department responded to reports of a domestic disturbance on Sunday (April 19) just after 6 a.m.
The eight children who were fatally struck ranged from ages 1 to 14 years old. Two additional victims survived the shooting, but police have not shared additional information about them.
“You have three different scenes, the shooting itself occurred just down the road over here, the 300 block of West 79th,” said police spokesperson Christopher Bordelon at a news briefing, per NBC News. “There’s also another shooting related to this on Harrison Street, and then there’s an adjacent residence on West 79 where one of the victims ran to after the shooting.”
Officers shot and killed the suspect during the chase, Bordelon added.
Police did not share information about the suspect nor his motives, but Bordelon said “some of the children” in the homes “were his descendants.”
“The individual responsible once leaving this scene performed a carjacking right here in close proximity to the corner of West 79th and Lynnwood, at which point in time, Shreveport police patrol officers got behind that vehicle in a chase incident,” Bordelon said.
“This is a tragic situation, maybe the worst tragic situation we’ve ever had in Shreveport,” Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux said at the briefing. “So, right now we’re going to process the information and it’s in very good hands.”
Mack London, a 71-year-old who lives on the same block where the incident occurred, told NBC News that he didn’t hear any gunfire and learned about the tragedy from a neighbor after stepping outside around 7 a.m. He said at the time the street was flooded with police and an ambulance, with onlookers gathering despite the block being closed off.
“Nothing like this has ever happened on this street,” said London, who has lived in the neighborhood since 1991. “It was bad. … I hate that it happened to those kids.”
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry also said he is "heartbroken over this horrific situation," before sharing his gratitude for local law enforcement and first responders.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has represented Shreveport for nearly 10 years, called the incident a “heartbreaking tragedy.”
