SHREVEPORT, LOUISIANA — Shamar Elkins fatally shot eight children in Shreveport, Louisiana, according to police. A relative said Elkins was in the midst of separating from his wife, who was wounded in the attack.

A relative of Elkins's wife said Elkins voluntarily checked into a Department of Veterans Affairs hospital in January for about a week and a half for mental health help. Shreveport has a population of roughly 180,000 people. Shreveport Councilman Grayson Boucher said the killings reflected a broader pattern. "The Louisiana killings are emblematic of a true epidemic of domestic violence," Boucher said.

More than four in 10 Black women experience physical violence from an intimate partner during their lifetimes, a higher rate than women who are white, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, according to a 2014 study by the Centers for Disease Control. Black women are two times more likely to be murdered by men than white women, according to a 2025 study by the Violence Policy Center based on federal government data from 2023. The study found that over nine in 10 Black female murder victims knew their killers and that the majority of those killings were carried out with guns.

Paméla Tate, executive director of Black Women Revolt, an organization that runs programs to prevent abuse and offers survivors resources, said skepticism about police and government child services agencies based on a history of institutionalized racism makes Black women reluctant to seek help and vulnerable to domestic violence. Tate rejected framing the killings as a product of mental illness. "The mental illness is not what we're talking about here," she said. "There are people who are depressed or people who have schizophrenia and don't harm their partners, much less kill them," Tate said.

Christine Crawford, an adult and child psychiatrist and interim chief medical officer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness, pointed to a range of pressures that can precede violent acts. "Financial troubles, marital issues and problems at work — in addition to underlying mental health vulnerabilities — can lead someone to crack," Crawford said. She noted that many Black people are priced out of mental health programs and care due to private care costs and lack of insurance.