Neighbors will never forget the silence after the gunfire stopped — the kind that feels heavier than any sound. Police moved from room to room under flashing red and blue lights, finding children who had gone to bed expecting only another ordinary night. Investigators say the shooter targeted three homes, killing eight kids between 1 and 14, then fleeing on foot before forcing a driver out of a car at gunpoint.

Officers caught up with him near West 79th Street and Linwood Avenue, ending the pursuit in a burst of bullets that left the gunman dead in the street. Behind them, an “extensive” crime scene stretched across two blocks and three shattered households. As Shreveport’s police chief spoke to cameras, families clung to each other, trying to understand how a man could turn on his own blood — and how a city is supposed to breathe again after this.