Neighbors recall “full-blown shootout” after father targets children in mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana

Neighbors who witnessed the consequences of massacre of eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, describe the “chaos” they heard and saw when a father shot and killed seven of his own children and one of their cousins ​​early Sunday morning.

Police identified the suspected shooter as Shamar Elkins, who fled law enforcement in a stolen car after shooting. They said he died after police chased him and opened fire.

Two witnesses, Jacob and Tiffany Castleman, told CBS affiliate KSLA that they were shocked and horrified when a “real shooting” took place outside their home. Tiffany said she woke her husband after hearing sirens and what she thought were possible gunshots.

“And then when I heard the barrage, I knew there was a real shooting, something was happening,” she told the station. “Mind you, we had no idea of ​​the subsequent incidents that happened, but I was just completely terrified.”

Jacob said his first thought was “there’s no way this is happening behind our house.”

“I was in complete shock…it was just chaos,” he told KSLA. “I mean, honestly, it was just nothing I’d ever experienced.”

He told the station he remembered hearing more gunshots, apparently “pretty close” to where he and his wife were sleeping. Once outside, he said he saw police officers with their guns drawn, yelling at the suspect to put his hands up and get out.

Liza Demming, a neighbor who lives two houses away from the residence where most of the victims were shot, told The Associated Press that her security camera captured video of the gunman running away and the sounds of two gunshots.

“That’s about all I saw was him running out of the house and the cars were leaving,” she said.

Demming told AP she later saw the covered body of a child on the roof of the residence.

The community reacts

Lashuan Berry, who owns the Valley of Hope Center for Kids daycare and knew the suspect and his family, said Elkins appeared to have “no soul.”

“You could see in his eyes, nothing behind the eyes. Death behind the eyes,” Berry told KSLA. “No soul. NPC, non-player character. He didn’t have one.”

But other community members said the tragic crime was unexpected.

Fred Montgomery, a neighbor who lives across the street from the house where the shooting took place, told CBS News he saw no signs that the shooter would do anything like that.

“The kids played in the yard every night,” Montgomery said. “Last night he was sitting on the porch, I waved to him, he waved back, the kids were in the yard…and then this morning we woke up to all this.”

A friend of a relative of one of the victims, who requested anonymity, told KSLA that the suspect “pretty much went on the run.”

“We don’t know what triggered him. We don’t know what happened. But doing what he did to those kids should never have happened,” the person said. “Every time I saw him, he just had smiles and everything. I never delved into the story to figure out what was going on, but they never showed any problems within the house.”

Police said the gunman shot and killed 10 people, including two women, including his wife. A relative told AP that both were the mothers of the shooter’s children and that he and his wife were arguing about their separation before their scheduled court appearance Monday.

The gunman first shot a woman in the face during a domestic dispute that began around 5 a.m., before going to another residence in the neighborhood and shooting all eight people who were killed. Police described the shooting – the nation’s deadliest in more than two years – as an “execution” and said the gunman aimed at the victims as they tried to escape the house through a window.

According to the coroner’s office, the mothers identified the children as: Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11 years old; Khedarrion Neige, 6 years old; and Braylon Neige, 5 years old.