A mass shooting in Shreveport left eight children dead on Sunday, marking the deadliest U.S. attack of its kind in nearly two years. The gunman, who killed seven of his own children and one cousin, also shot three others: his wife, the mother of three of his children, and a 13-year-old boy.
The killings arrived amid a wave of domestic homicides involving Black women. Cerina Fairfax, wife of former Virginia lieutenant governor Justin Fairfax, was murdered by her husband. Nancy Metayer, vice-mayor of Coral Springs, Florida, was killed the same way. Yet these deaths have generated little policy response or sustained national outcry.
More than half of all female homicide victims in the U.S. are killed by someone they know personally, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Between 2020 and 2024, domestic violence incidents claimed more than 2,500 lives on average annually, with firearms involved in more than half of those deaths, according to research from Cambridge University Press.
Black women face disproportionate risk, but their deaths receive less media attention and fewer calls for legislative action than similar cases involving white victims, according to sociology professor Cheryl Neely at Oakland Community College in Michigan. Neely's research documents that Black women are killed at higher rates both inside and outside the home.
The disparity extends beyond coverage. When Black women and children are killed, the narrative often shifts to scrutiny of Black family structures and women's personal choices, rather than focusing on gun access and abuser accountability. "It's as if it is a normal pattern of existence," Neely said. "If they were white we would be talking about gun control and how this man had access to a weapon to destroy these children, not the pathology of the Black family."
Gunshot wounds have been the leading cause of death for children and teenagers in America since 2020. Younger children in particular are more likely to die from domestic violence, while older teens are typically killed in neighborhood conflicts, according to a 2023 study from the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Neither the White House nor President Donald Trump has issued statements on the Shreveport shooting, Fairfax's death, or Metayer's killing. The silence stands as a stark contrast to rhetoric around other forms of violence. The Trump administration has also moved to cut funding for gun violence prevention programs that specifically serve Black communities.
The pattern of inaction reflects deeper systemic neglect. Neely noted that the absence of response is unsurprising given current political priorities, though the human cost remains undeniable.
Author James Rodriguez: "The data screams what the headlines won't say: Black women are dying at the hands of intimate partners while policy makers look the other way."
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