Shreveport, Louisiana. A Louisiana father fatally shot eight children, including seven of his own, during an early morning attack on his family on Sunday that stretched across two houses in a Shreveport neighborhood left shaken by one of the nation’s deadliest mass shootings in recent years, police said.

Two women, including the gunman's wife, who was the mother of their children, were also shot and critically injured, according to Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon. Officials said the children -- who were all killed in the same house -- ranged in age from 3 to 11 years old.

The gunman, identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins, died after a police pursuit that ended with officers firing on him, according to Bordelon. Authorities did not say what may have set off the violence, but Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.”

The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States in more than two years.

“I just don’t know what to say, my heart is just taken aback,” Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said. “I cannot begin to imagine how such an event could occur.”

Bordelon said police were familiar with Elkins, who had been arrested in a 2019 firearms case, but he said officials were not aware of any other domestic violence issues.

Police said the attacks began before sunrise in a neighborhood south of downtown Shreveport when the suspect shot a woman at one home and then drove to the other location “where this heinous act was carried out.”

Seven children were killed inside the second house, and one was found dead on the roof after apparently trying to escape, Bordelon said. Another child jumped off the roof and was expected to survive after being taken to a hospital.

State Rep. Tammy Phelps said some children tried to get away through the back door. “I can't even imagine what the police officers, first responders actually dealt with when they got here today,” she said at a news conference.

The victims were three boys and five girls, according to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s office.

Shamar Elkins and his wife were in the middle of separating and were due in court Monday, said Crystal Brown, who is a cousin of one of the wounded women. Brown said the couple had been arguing about the separation before the shooting.

“He murdered his children," Brown said. “He shot his wife.”

Elkins shared four children with his wife and three children with another woman who lived close by and who was also shot, according to Brown. All the children were together at one house, she said.

Brown described all the children as “happy kids, very friendly, very sweet.”