Media Immediately Blames the Military After Learning the Name and Background of the Louisiana Shooter Who Murdered 8 Children
The horrific mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, that left eight children dead has taken a disturbing turn as the media rushes to shift blame away from the killer and onto the U.S. military.
The shooter has been identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, a former Louisiana Army National Guard member who served from 2013 to 2020 as a signal support system specialist and fire support specialist. He was never deployed and left the Army as a private. Elkins was the father of seven of the eight children killed.
The victims, identified by the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, were:
– Jayla Elkins, 3
– Shayla Elkins, 5
– Kayla Pugh, 6
– Layla Pugh, 7
– Markaydon Pugh, 10
– Sariahh Snow, 11
– Khedarrion Snow, 6
– Braylon Snow, 5
One child was a cousin. Two adult women were also shot and survived, one of them critically injured (believed to be the mother of some of the children). A teenager reportedly survived with non-life-threatening injuries after jumping from a roof.
Elkins had a prior criminal record, including a 2019 arrest for illegal use of a weapon and carrying a firearm on school property near Caddo Magnet High School, where he received 18 months of probation. He also had a 2016 DWI conviction.
A friend who served with Elkins in the Army told media outlets that the family was well-known and well-liked in Shreveport, but suggested the military “messed him up” and left him feeling unsupported.
Instead of focusing on the domestic nature of the crime, Elkins’ criminal history, or the failure of the justice system to keep a previously armed offender off the streets, parts of the media have already begun pushing a narrative that blames military service for the massacre.
This is the same predictable playbook we see every time the facts don’t fit the preferred story. When the shooter’s background doesn’t align with the usual talking points, the media pivots to “the military broke him” or “lack of veteran support.” Yet when shooters have no military connection, the blame instantly shifts to guns, “toxic masculinity,” or society at large.
Eight innocent children — seven of them killed by their own father — are dead in one of the worst domestic tragedies in recent Louisiana history. The community is devastated, and prayers are pouring out for the surviving family members.
The rush to blame the military is not only premature and disrespectful to the millions of honorable service members who return home and never commit violence — it also distracts from the real questions: Why was a man with a known firearms conviction apparently free to carry out this horror? And why does the media only seem interested in certain backgrounds when tragedy strikes?
This story deserves honest reporting, not another attempt to politicize dead children.
**Opinion Disclaimer:** The views expressed in this article, including criticism of media attempts to blame the military and patterns of selective outrage based on the shooter’s background, reflect a conservative perspective on how these tragedies are covered. The facts regarding the shooter’s identity, military service, criminal record, and relationship to the victims come directly from law enforcement and official statements. Readers should form their own conclusions as the investigation continues.
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Bruce Hoenshell is a military historian, he is one of the most prolific conservative writers today, often churning out multiple columns per week. His writings tend to focus on international themes, modern warfare. Style Sampling: “ It is not that we need social networking and Internet searches more than food and fuel, but rather that we have the impression that cool zillionaires in flip-flops are good while uncool ones in wingtips are quite bad.”
