Shreveport (United States) (AFP) - A man shot dead eight children – seven of them his own – early Sunday in the southern US state of Louisiana in an incident of domestic violence, police said.

The early morning massacre at a gray house in the city of Shreveport was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States in more than two years, according to data from the Gun Violence Archive.

Two women were shot and seriously injured, including the mother of some of the slain children – it wasn’t immediately clear how many.

Police identified the gunman as Shamar Elkins, 31. He had escaped the scene of the shootings in a carjacked vehicle and was chased by police, who then shot him dead.

“At the end of that pursuit, the suspect exited the vehicle with a firearm, and ultimately our officers were forced to neutralize the suspect,” police Corporal Chris Bordelon told reporters.

An AFP videographer at the scene saw five bullet holes visible in the white door of the small, two-story house. Well-wishers had lain a half-dozen bouquets of flowers nearby.

Bordelon said the slain children ranged in age from about 18 months to 12 years old, and seven of the eight were the shooter’s “own.”

He said police “are still actively investigating, trying to determine the why” and were combing for evidence in a crime scene that spanned three residences.

“We do believe him to be the only individual that fired gunshots at these locations,” Bordelon said, calling the incident a “domestic disturbance.”

Police said that Elkins was arrested in 2019 in a firearms case in which he pleaded guilty, but they were not aware of other issues of domestic violence in his past.

Police said more details about the victims and the gunman would be released pending notification of next of kin.

“This is a terrible event to occur. It’s especially important and distressing that the victims are all children,” city Mayor Tom Arceneaux told reporters.

“It lets you know that evil still exists in the world and that we need to be fighting everything we can to overcome that evil with good, to shed light in the darkness.”

In total, nine children were at the second residence visited by the gunman. One survived and was in hospital with a non-life-threatening injury, Arceneaux said.

ABC affiliate KTBS reported that the two women were shot in the head.

Police told AFP that one of the women who had been shot in the lower part of the face had raised the alarm with a neighbor who had made the 911 emergency call to alert authorities between 5:00 am and 5:30 am local time.

One of Louisiana’s two US senators, Republican Bill Cassidy, called the incident an episode of “horrific violence” and wished the survivors a speedy recovery.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said he was “heartbroken.”

Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives who was born in Shreveport and is a congressman for the region, denounced the incident on X as a “senseless tragedy.”

“It’s a terrible morning in Shreveport and we all mourn with the victims,” Arceneaux said at a press conference.

The United States, where firearms are readily available, is a frequent scene of gun violence, with thousands of people killed every year. It has the highest rate of gun-related deaths among all developed nations.