Eight children were shot dead in Louisiana, in the southern United States, in domestic violence where the alleged perpetrator was killed by police, authorities announced Sunday.

This massacre, the worst in the United States in more than two years, took place in Shreveport, a major urban area in the northwest of the state of Louisiana.

Called out early Sunday to respond to violence, police discovered victims in two separate homes, Police Corporal Chris Bordelon told a press conference, adding that a third location is also involved in the investigation.

"Three boys and five girls, aged between 3 and 11, were shot dead," the coroner's office said. Seven of them were siblings, and the last was a cousin.

According to Corporal Bordelon, a total of ten people were shot, "eight of whom died." Seven of the eight minors killed were the children of the suspected perpetrator, he added.

The two other people, seriously wounded by gunfire, are women, at least one of whom was the mother of several of the children killed, police said, adding that they are "actively conducting an investigation to try to determine the motives" for the crimes.

Police told AFP that one of the women, who had been shot in the lower part of her face, alerted a neighbor, who then called for help.

Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux told CNN that the two women were close to the suspect, without providing further details.

In total, nine children were in the second residence where the shooter went. One of them survived and was hospitalized with a minor injury, Mr. Arceneaux told the press.

Suspect shot dead

Police have identified the shooter as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins.

After fleeing in a stolen vehicle, the suspect was pursued by law enforcement and then shot dead.

"Following the chase, the suspect exited the vehicle with a weapon, and our officers were forced to subdue him," Chris Bordelon told reporters. No officers were injured.

An AFP video journalist on the scene saw five bullet impacts on the door of one of the houses.

According to police, Shamar Elkins had already been arrested in 2019 for weapons possession. However, authorities stated they were unaware of any history of domestic violence against him.

"Senseless tragedy"

Freddie Montgomery, a 72-year-old resident of the area, said he saw police removing the children's bodies on Sunday.

"Yesterday afternoon, at this time, all these children were playing in the garden in front of the house. And he was sitting under the porch," he told AFP.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he was "heartbroken".

Mike Johnson, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and representative for the region, denounced on X a "senseless tragedy."

According to authoritative data from the NGO Gun Violence Archive, this is the worst gun violence death toll in the United States since the deaths of eight people in a Chicago suburb in January 2024.

With more firearms in circulation than inhabitants, the United States has the highest firearm mortality rate of any developed country.

Shootings are a recurring scourge that successive governments have so far failed to stem, with many Americans remaining very attached to their guns.

By 2025, nearly 15,000 people, not counting suicides, will have been killed by firearms, according to Gun Violence Archive.