By Daniel Trotta
April 22 (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors on Tuesday charged a Louisiana man with illegally possessing a firearm and lying to federal agents after the weapon was used in Sunday’s massacre of eight children in Shreveport.
Police say Shamar Elkins used that gun to kill seven of his own children plus a nephew, ranging in age from 3 to 11.
Police said Elkins also shot his wife, the mother of several of the children, who was hospitalized with serious injuries, and another woman. Police fatally shot Elkins during a vehicle chase, officials said.
Prosecutors charged Charles Ford, 56, with being a felon in possession of a firearm and making false statements to federal agents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana said in a statement.
The firearm linked to the charges – a short-barreled, AR-style weapon – was the same one Elkins used in the attack, prosecutors said.
Investigators traced the gun to its original purchaser, who told them she had given it to Ford, the statement said.
Ford, a convicted felon prohibited from possessing firearms, initially denied having had the weapon when federal agents interviewed him, prosecutors said. He later admitted that he possessed the rifle, saying he kept it under his seat and believed Elkins took it, according to the criminal complaint.
“Law enforcement partners are investigating every angle of how this tragedy came to occur,” U.S. Attorney Zachary Keller said in the statement. He said prosecutors hoped holding others accountable would provide “some small bit of solace” to the community.
Ford faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the gun charge and up to five years for the false statement count.
Federal public defenders in Shreveport, who were appointed as his defense counsel, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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