A Louisiana man faces gun charges and allegations that he made a false statement to federal agents in connection with a weekend mass shooting that left eight children dead in Shreveport, authorities said Tuesday.
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Charles Ford, 56, initially lied to authorities about having the gun that authorities said Shamar Elkins used in the shooting, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Louisiana’s Western District alleged in a news release.
Ford later admitted that he had the gun and believed Elkins took it, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.
Court records did not list an attorney to speak on Ford’s behalf.
According to the affidavit, a woman told federal authorities that she gave Ford the gun — a Mossberg pistol — while she was in the hospital last year.
Ford denied this during an interview Monday with agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, saying he wasn’t allowed to have the weapon because of his criminal history, according to the affidavit.
During a follow-up interview, the affidavit states, Ford admitted to keeping the pistol in his truck. He said he noticed that it was gone on March 9 and believed that Elkins — who he said was one of the only people to ride in his truck — stole the weapon, according to the affidavit.
Ford said Elkins became “offensive” when he confronted him about the apparent theft, “so he let it go,” the affidavit says.
The document says Ford was convicted of simple robbery in 2000 and pleaded guilty to domestic abuse battery in 2011.
Elkins, a former National Guardsman, had been arrested in 2019 and convicted of illegal use of a firearm, a conviction that likely prohibited him from legally owning firearms.
Authorities have said that Elkins was the father of seven of the eight children he fatally shot in Shreveport on Sunday. The eighth was a cousin.
Elkins also shot and seriously injured his wife and another woman believed to be his girlfriend, police said.
Elkins, who relatives have said recently sought mental health treatment from a Veteran Affairs medical center, fled the scene and died in front of a home nearby. He had also carjacked a person at gunpoint. It’s unclear if he died by suicide or was fatally shot by police.
