April 20, 2026, 8:23 p.mApril 20, 2026, 8:23 p.m
After the violence in the US state of Louisiana in which eight children were killed, the police announced that they knew the man identified as the perpetrator. “He was in our system,” Shreveport City Police Chief Wayne Smith said at a news conference. Smith left it open why and in connection with what type of incident the alleged shooter was registered.
Shreveport City Police Chief Wayne Smith (l.) speaks at a press conference.Image: keystone
According to police, emergency calls were received early Sunday morning (local time) about shots fired at two residential addresses. One of the callers said that she and her children had escaped from a shooting attacker through the roof of a residential building. Another woman called a little later and said she had been shot by her boyfriend, who was now on the run with three of her children. Police said on Sunday that eight children were killed and at least two women were injured, one of them seriously, in the incidents.
“Domestic violence epidemic”
The perpetrator was also dead after trying to escape in a stolen vehicle. Details about this are still under investigation, Smith said. It is still unclear how many of those killed were the alleged perpetrator’s own children, but two mothers lost their children. Both women knew the perpetrator and had relationships with the man or had done so in the past, it was said. The background to the crime is still unclear.
It is very likely that this was not the first incident of domestic violence in the family, police said. City Council member Grayson Boucher spoke of an “epidemic of domestic violence” in Shreveport and called on people to seek help early.
According to CNN, it was the deadliest gun incident in the US in the past two years. In January 2024, eight people died from gunshot wounds near Chicago. The alleged perpetrator later took his own life. (hkl/sda/dpa)