What We Know About The Mass Shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana

On Sunday, the Shreveport community was devastated by an unthinkable act of gun violence, in which a gunman shot and killed seven of his own children and his nephew, all aged three to 11 years old, and shot and wounded two women, including his wife. Both women shot and wounded are mothers of the shooter’s children. This tragedy, the deadliest mass shooting since January 2024, serves as a grim testament to the lethal combination of domestic violence and easy access to guns. 

Despite a reported felony conviction in 2019 that legally prohibited him from purchasing and possessing a firearm under federal law, the shooter could have easily bypassed the systems designed to keep guns out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them due to gaps in state law. Louisiana doesn’t require background checks on private gun sales, making it easy for prohibited buyers to arm themselves with no questions asked. Louisiana also lacks an Extreme Risk law that could have provided his family, medical professionals, and law enforcement a legal pathway to intervene and disarm him before this tragedy.

“The Shreveport community is reeling from a horrific example of what happens when state law protects gun sales instead of children,” said Sam Levy, Director of Policy Advocacy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “A 2019 felony conviction should have ended the shooter’s access to firearms, but in Louisiana, being a prohibited buyer is no obstacle to arming yourself. If our leaders had prioritized background checks and an Extreme Risk law, this tragedy and others like it could have been prevented. It is an absolute indictment of Louisiana lawmakers that they have watched child after child be buried while refusing to close these obvious, life-saving gaps.”

What We Know About the Shooter and Incident

The shooter has been identified as a 31-year-old man who formerly served in the Louisiana Army National Guard. Reports indicate the shooter’s wife, who was shot and wounded in the shooting, had recently filed for divorce. In 2019, he was arrested for firing five rounds near a school while children were playing outside.

In the weeks leading up to the shooting, family members reported that the shooter was experiencing mental health problems and violent ideations. He was hospitalized at the local Veterans Affairs hospital for a mental health evaluation. 

A small-caliber handgun and a “rifle-style pistol” were used in the shooting. While it is unknown how the shooter obtained the weapons while being convicted of a felony charge, Louisiana has significant loopholes that allow prohibited persons to acquire firearms, including lacking background checks. 

Background Checks

Louisiana does not require background checks at the point of sale for guns sold by unlicensed sellers. That means that buyers who couldn’t pass the background checks federally licensed dealers are required to run can go online to sites like Armslist and buy a gun from a private seller, with no background check and no questions asked. While, according to reporting, the shooter was likely barred under federal law from purchasing and possessing guns, there were no guardrails to stop a private sale, since neither Louisiana nor federal law require background checks for unlicensed sales. For half the US population living in states with background check requirements, the shooter could have been blocked from purchasing these firearms because those states require a background check on all gun sales, including those sold by unlicensed sellers.

Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO)

Louisiana lacks an ERPO law that would allow family members or law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from individuals in crisis. Both medical professionals and the shooter’s family noticed clear signs of distress, as well as violent and suicidal ideation. An ERPO law would have provided them a legal pathway to intervene and remove any weapons to which the shooter had access before the situation turned fatal.

Intersection of Domestic Violence and Access to Firearms

Gun violence and domestic violence are inextricably linked: Every month, an average of more than 70 women are shot and killed by an intimate partner. Nearly six million women reported having a gun used on them by an intimate partner. Nearly one in 10 incidents of intimate partner homicide-suicide also involved the murder of the family’s children. And beyond the daily toll of this problem, in at least 46 percent of mass shootings between 2015 and 2022, the perpetrator shot a current or former intimate partner or family member as part of the rampage. Read more about Louisiana’s gun laws here. Read more about domestic violence and access to firearms here.

If you would like to speak to a policy expert or a volunteer with Moms Demand Action or Students Demand Action, please reach out to [email protected].