Eight White Caskets: How Shreveport Said Goodbye to the ‘Eternal 8’ | WATCH

*They came with purple dresses and white balloons. They came with broken hearts and trembling hands. They came because there was nothing else to do but show up. On Saturday, the sanctuary of Summer Grove Baptist Church held eight white caskets. Inside were eight children. The youngest was 3. The oldest was 11. In between […] The post Eight White Caskets: How Shreveport Said Goodbye to the ‘Eternal 8’ | WATCH appeared first on EURweb | Black News, Culture, Entertainment & More.

May 11, 2026 - 00:57

Eight White Caskets: How Shreveport Said Goodbye to the ‘Eternal 8’ | WATCH

The Eternal Eight (Children killed in Shreveport mass shooting)

*They came with purple dresses and white balloons. They came with broken hearts and trembling hands. They came because there was nothing else to do but show up.

On Saturday, the sanctuary of Summer Grove Baptist Church held eight white caskets. Inside were eight children. The youngest was 3. The oldest was 11. In between were six other young lives taken by a single gunman who had once called them family.

This was the funeral for the “Eternal 8” — the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in the United States in more than two years.

The mothers in the front row

Three women sat in the front row. Shanequia Elkins, Keosha Pugh, and Christina Snow had done what no parent should ever have to do. They planned a funeral for their children. Not one child. Multiple children.

Together, they had lost Sariahh Snow, Khedarrion Snow, Braylon Snow, Mar’Kaydon Pugh, Jayla Elkins, Shayla Elkins, Kayla Pugh, and Layla Pugh.

The mothers wore bright colors — purple, pink, white, blue — because someone decided the children would have wanted it that way. The foyer was filled with balloons, flowers, and memorial displays. Outside, horse-drawn carriages waited to carry the small white caskets to Forest Park Cemetery West.

“This is a nation mourning”

Mayor Tom Arceneaux spoke first. “Our precious angels were sons and daughters, grandchildren, classmates, and friends,” he said.

Then came U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields, who brought a message from Washington but also from somewhere deeper. “This is not a Shreveport mourning,” Fields told the congregation. “This is a nation mourning.”

He was right. People had traveled from across the country. Even former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords made the trip. She lost her political career to a bullet in 2011. She knows something about surviving gun violence. According to Fields, she came for one reason: “to let the family know that this pain is not just in Louisiana. This pain is all across the nation.”

Nicknames and small memories

The funeral program read like a yearbook for kids who never got to finish elementary school.

Jayla Elkins was “Jaybae.” Kayla Pugh was “K-Mae.” Mar’Kaydon Pugh was “K-Bug.” These were not formal names. These were names shouted across living rooms and playgrounds.

Khedarrion Snow had “a sweet and loving heart,” the program said. “Though his life on earth was short, his light was mighty.”

Layla Pugh was “bright, intelligent, bold, and full of love.” She made TikTok videos with her siblings and cousins. She was 11.

Kim Burrell’s message to the broken

The service included musical performances, prayers, and an open-casket viewing. But the moment that seemed to land hardest came from pastor and gospel singer Kim Burrell.

She looked at the mothers. She looked at the aunts and uncles and grandparents. And she addressed the question hanging over every pew: Why?

“To ask the question, ‘Why is this fair, God? How could you, Lord?’ He’s still God,” Burrell said. “The same God that healed you from the stuff that you don’t want to tell nobody about. But he is a God that doesn’t have to give us all the clues. Just know that he makes no mistakes.”

Then she turned directly to the families: “God’s got you. Okay. To the family, to the parents, to the aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. God’s got you.”

The shooter and the aftermath

The man who killed the children was Shamar Elkins. He used an assault-style weapon on April 19. Seven of the eight children were his. He wounded his wife and another woman. He injured another mother and her daughter as they tried to flee.

Then he drove to a friend’s home in Bossier City and killed himself.

The investigation continues. But for the families in that church on Saturday, the only question that mattered was how to keep breathing.

A promise from the city

Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor made a promise on behalf of Shreveport. “We stand with you,” she said. “Just know that the Eternal Eight would never, ever be forgotten in the city of Shreveport.”

A resolution from Gov. Jeff Landry was read aloud. Flags across Louisiana would fly at half-staff through May 17. “It is incumbent upon us to honor the memory of those lost by standing together against such senseless violence,” the resolution stated.