Shamar Elkins enjoyed meal with eldest daughter hours before Shreveport shooting; '1 on 1 date...'

Shamar Elkins, a former US Army soldier, is suspected of killing eight children in Louisiana; he posted photos with his daughter hours before the shooting.

The suspect of the tragic shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana, on Sunday has been identified as 31-year-old Shamar Elkins. Elkins, a former US Army soldier, shot eight children dead and injured two women, with one of them in critical condition.

Police officers secure a street where eight children, with ages ranging from 1 to 14, were killed in a mass shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana on April 19. (via REUTERS)

Elkins has not yet been identified by authorities. The Daily Mail confirmed the identity citing former Caddo Parish Constable Patrick Young. Since the identification, the social media profile of Shamar Elkins has gone viral. His posts with his children, whom he murdered, have been sending chills down the spines of those following the case.

Hours before the mass shooting on Sunday morning, on Saturday evening, Elkins posted on Facebook photos of his visit to a burger joint with this eldest daughter. “Lol!!!! Took my oldest on a lil 1 on 1 date had to catch her down bad ugh ugh,” he captioned the photo.

Here's the post:

The tragedy unfolded early on Sunday morning and left at least eight dead. Some of the children killed were identified as "descendants" of Elkins. Two of the women who were shot in the head by Elkins were also related to him, though Shreveport police have not revealed the exact nature of the relationship.

The Shreveport Police Department has not identified the deceased children, saying that the formal identification of the eight corpses is still pending.

As of now, it is unclear what prompted the shooting as the Shreveport Police Department continue their investigation.

The mass shooting took place on the 300 block of West 79th Street near Linwood Avenue, where the eight children and the two women were shot. He then jacked a car and fled the location with deputies chasing him.

He first went to Harrison Street, between Wallace Avenue and Bernstein Avenue, and then to on Brompton Lane near Long Acre Drive, where he was shot dead by officers, the Shreveport Police Department said.

Mental Health Struggle In Spotlight

Along with Saturday's photo with his eldest daughter, other photos of Elkins with his children frequently feature on social media, indicating that the 31-year-old was likely close to the family.

The Daily Mail reports that Shamar Elkins posted a photo last week with his seven children. In the caption of the photo, Elkins noted that he had taken the children to the church for Easter. “Happy Easter had a wonderful time at church for the first time with all my kids what a blessed day," he wrote in the post.

Though not officially confirmed, the social media posts suggest that Elkin may have been suffering from mental health issues. In one of his posts, he asked God to "guard my mind." The April 9 post read: “Dear God, Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions."