A Louisiana man who murdered eight children, seven of them his own and one a cousin of the children, had two prior convictions. One of convictions was due to his commission of a previous shooting near a school. The children were all under 11 years old.

In October 2019, Elkins pleaded guilty to an illegal weapons charge and was given probation for 18 months, per KTBS. Police said that he was 300 feet away from a Shreveport high school when opened fire on a car. The shots were also in the direction of a school where children were outside. Elkins was also convicted of driving under the influence in 2016, per the New York Times.

The 31-year-old posted a picture of himself with one of his daughters just hours before killing the children execution style. He killed most of them in their beds and one as he tried to escape.

Shamar Elkins, an Army veteran and USPS worker, went on a shooting rampage at three different addresses in Shreveport, Louisiana a little after 6 am local time on Sunday, police say.

The victims’ ages ranged from 3 to 11, and they have been identified as Jayla Elkins, 3, Shayla Elkins, 5, Kayla Pugh, 6, Layla Pugh, 7, Markaydon Pugh, 10, Sariahh Snow, 11, Khedarrion Snow, 6, and Braylon Snow, 5. Seven of them were siblings and another was their cousin.

Elkins also shot his wife in the face, mother of four of his children, as well as the mother of his three other children. Both were shot in the head and are in critical condition. Police chased Elkins as he fled and shot him after which he was pronounced dead.

Just two weeks before the rampage, Elkins had shared a picture of himself posing with seven kids saying that they were “all his kids” when he took them to church for an Easter service.

“Happy Easter had a wonderful time at church for the first time with all my kids what a blessed day,” he wrote in a Facebook post. In a call to his parents that day he spoke about feeling haunted by demons and told his mother he was in a dark place. She tried to encourage him.

However, that same day he wrote that he was lost in a myriad of “dark thoughts” and that his wife was looking to divorce him. In another post, he hinted at mental health struggles, and said that he wanted God to “guard” his emotions.

“Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions,” he said on April 9.