Louisiana
Louisiana leaders react to Charlie Kirk’s shooting death
National radio host and podcaster Charlie Kirk speaks at an April 9, 2024, rally he hosted in Omaha, Nebraska. (Aaron Sanderford/Nebraska Examiner)
Election officials from Louisiana are reacting to the death of ultra-conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot Wednesday afternoon during an event at a Utah university.
Videos circulating on social media show Kirk seated under an open tent at an outdoor amphitheater venue on the Utah Valley University campus as he was fielding questions from a large crowd. The audience scattered after hearing a popping sound. Kirk appeared to recoil from an impact and began bleeding from his neck. Witnesses said he was answering a question about gang violence and shootings when he was shot.
Police in Utah have said they have a person of interest in custody but did not indicate it was the shooting suspect.
Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry called Kirk “a patriot in every sense of the word” in a social media post. The governor said he and first lady Sharon Landry were praying for Kirk, his wife Erika and their two children, along with the Turning Point USA organization that Kirk founded and led.
“It is important to recognize that the very idea of a representative republic is to allow for the free exchange of ideas that can be debated in a peaceful setting, so that we don’t have to fight it out in the street,” Landry said in a post on the platform X.
The governor also encouraged Kirk’s supporters to fly an American flag in his honor.
“He stood for the principles that made this country great: liberty, freedom, and prosperity, which are all of the things that the Left hates,” Landry added.
U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Shreveport, described Kirk as a “close friend and confidant” and said his death was “utterly devastating” in a statement.
“He will be sorely missed by so many,” Johnson said. “Every political leader must loudly and clearly decry this violence. Our prayers go out to his wife and young children. May he rest in peace.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, said in an X post that he was “sad and digusted” to learn of Kirk’s death.
“Political violence is NEVER acceptable,” Scalise wrote. “The perpetrator of this horrific act must be held accountable … It’s past time for the incendiary rhetoric to come to an end, and we must see universal condemnation of this gruesome act.”
Eight years ago, Scalise barely survived a politically motivated mass shooting at a Virginia park where he and other GOP lawmakers were practicing for the annual congressional baseball game. Shooter James Hodgkinson also wounded a Capitol security officer, a congressional aide and a lobbyist before being killed by return fire.
U.S. Sen. John Kennedy, R-Madisonville, called Kirk a “courageous conservative” and said “his senseless death makes me sick,” in an X post.
“His legacy will live on through every freedom-loving American who watched his show, listened to his speeches, or attended one of Turning Point USA’s events,” Kennedy wrote.
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, shared a brief prayer on Facebook and shared a post President Donald Trump made to his Truth Social platform that said “No one had or understood the Heart of the Youth in the United States better than Charlie.”
Without mentioning Kirk by name, U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette, offered his own prayer on social media: “May our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ shield us, strengthen us, and forever defeat the evil that threatens our anointed Nation under God.”
In her own X post, U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, R-Start, asked for prayers for Kirk’s family “as they begin this unimaginable walk.”
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill also said she was praying for Kirk.
“The videos circulating are both shocking and disturbing, which seem entirely inadequate to describe this horrible event,” she said in a statement. “Political violence has no place in our society.”
Democratic officials from Louisiana also shared their reaction to Kirk’s death.
“Violence is never the answer — not in politics, not in life,” U.S. Rep. Troy Carter, D-New Orleans said in an X post. “We can disagree without dehumanizing, and we can debate without destruction. My prayers are with Charlie Kirk and his family.”
“The tragic death of Charlie Kirk is a reminder of the painful moment our country is living through,” U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields said on X. “No matter our political differences, violence is unacceptable and has no place at all in our democracy. My thoughts and prayers are with Charlie Kirk’s family, especially his wife and children, as they mourn this loss.”
The event where Kirk was fatally shot was typical of his many visits to college campuses where he fields questions from students, including those who challenge his conservative viewpoints.
The Turning Point USA chapter at Louisiana State University had planned to host Kirk for an Oct. 27 event on campus. In response to questions from The Reveille student newspaper, the LSU chapter provided a statement from its national office that confirmed Kirk’s death and asked for prayers for his family.
Derek Babcock, executive director of the Louisiana Republican Party, praised Kirk as “a bold truth-teller, a courageous leader, and a patriot who never shied away from defending the values that built this nation.” He also called on younger party members to carry on Kirk’s legacy.
“The enemies of truth may have silenced his voice, but they cannot extinguish the fire he lit in your hearts,” Babcock said in a statement. “In this dark hour, I urge you to rise up, carry forward the torch of faith and freedom, and show this nation that Charlie Kirk’s legacy will not be buried with him. It will live on in you.”
This is a developing story.
Louisiana
Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, just weeks after the same court allowed a similar Louisiana law to take effect.
A majority of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ law, which is nearly identical to Louisiana’s, is constitutional and does not violate students’ religious freedom. In February, the court lifted an injunction on Louisiana’s law, which cleared schools to put up the posters, but the judges said it was too early to rule on that law’s constitutionality.
Tuesday’s ruling could bode well for Louisiana’s law if it eventually returns to the 5th Circuit, considered the country’s most conservative federal court of appeals.
In their majority opinion, the judges rejected the argument that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would pressure students to honor the biblical mandates or adopt particular beliefs.
“To plaintiffs, merely exposing children to religious language is enough to make the displays engines of coercive indoctrination. We disagree,” the majority wrote about the Texas law, known as S.B. 10. A minority of the court’s active judges dissented.
Even though Tuesday’s ruling only addressed the Texas case, defenders of Louisiana’s legislation celebrated it as a victory. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the 5th Circuit’s argument in upholding Texas’ law was identical to the one Louisiana made in defense of its law.
“Our law clearly was always constitutional,” she posted on X, “and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.”
Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 2024, which requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. A group of parents quickly challenged the law in court, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the state from enforcing the law.
In February, the 5th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, saying it had been premature to block the law before it took effect. The judges said they could not rule on the law’s constitutionality before seeing how it played out in schools.
But in the case of Texas’ law, which that state’s Republican-led Legislature passed in 2025, the court did rule on the merits.
Rejecting arguments made by attorneys for the Texas families who challenged the law, the 5th Circuit majority said that requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments does not amount to the government endorsing a particular religion, which the U.S. Constitution forbids. The law also does not impose religious beliefs on students, the judges wrote.
“As noted, S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’),” the majority opinion says. “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”
The Texas families were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The same groups, including Louisiana’s ACLU chapter, represented the Louisiana families.
In a statement Tuesday, the organizations said they are “extremely disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, adding that they expect to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction,” the groups said. “This decision tramples those rights.”
Nearly all major industries in Louisiana added jobs over the past year, signaling momentum for a stronger future, according to a recent report from Leaders for a Better Louisiana.
The organizat…
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Police say a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, following a domestic dispute in Shreveport.
The incident took place early Sunday morning, April 19, on West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, the victims included three boys and five girls, aged between three and 11-years-old. Seven of the children were siblings, while one was a cousin. Two adult females were also injured, including one who was shot at a home located in the 500 block of Harrison Street.
One of the adults was inside the home on West 79th Street when the children were killed. She managed to escape through a window with two of the children and reached the roof. The woman jumped down with one of the children. Unfortunately, the other child did not manage to escape. Police later found his body on the roof with a gunshot wound. The surviving child was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla (age 3), Shayla (age 5), Kayla (age 6), Layla (age 7), Markaydon (age 10), Sariahh (age 11), Khedarrion (age 6), and Braylon (age 5).
Authorities say the suspect and father of the victims, Shamar Elkins, was the only person who fired shots that led to the juveniles’ deaths.
Authorities noted that Elkins stole a vehicle near West 79th Street after he shot the victims. He was pursued by patrol officers into Bossier Parish, where they discharged their weapons and fatally shot him on Brompton Lane. Louisiana State Police will take over the investigation involving the officers.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed his thoughts on the matter, saying, “We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner’s personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community. We all mourn with these families. I ask, it’s a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill also commented on the tragic shooting, stating, “Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating this tragic situation. We do not yet know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I’m praying for the victims and their family members in the wake of this devastating violence.”
According to the Director of Strategy and Communications, Mary Nash-Wood, two of the children attended Summer Grove, and at least four attended Linwood Charter School.
The police have not determined a motive. More updates will be provided as the information becomes available.
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