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SHREVEPORT, La. — Investigators are looking into how the former National Guardsman suspected of killing eight children in Louisiana on Sunday got a gun — despite an illegal firearms conviction on his record.

Shreveport Police Chief Wayne Smith said the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is probing how the suspect obtained the assault-style pistol used in the shooting, which he described as a domestic violence incident.

Shamar Elkins was arrested in 2019 and convicted of illegal use of a firearm. Shreveport police spokesman Christopher Bordelon said Elkins was likely prohibited from legally owning firearms because of that conviction.

In an interview, Bordelon said Elkins shot most of the children in the head and “probably still in their sleep.” Elkins was the father of seven of the eight children who were killed, Bordelon said; one of the children was a cousin, according to the coroner’s office.

“It is a disgusting and evil scene,” Bordelon told NBC News.

Elkins also shot and seriously injured his wife and another woman believed to be his girlfriend, police said.

He fled the scene and died in front of a home nearby, authorities said. It was not known whether he was fatally shot by law enforcement officers or died by suicide, Smith told reporters at a news conference Monday.

The Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, citing information provided by the children’s mothers, identified the victims as Jayla Elkins, 3; Shayla Elkins, 5; Kayla Pugh, 6; Layla Pugh, 7; Markaydon Pugh, 10; Sariahh Snow, 11; Khedarrion Snow, 6; and Braylon Snow, 5.

Elkins served in the Louisiana Army National Guard as a signal support system specialist and a fire support specialist from August 2013 to August 2020, the Army said. He never deployed and left the National Guard as a private.

Shreveport police officers responded to the 300 block of West 79th street just after 6 a.m. local time after reports of a domestic disturbance, authorities told reporters.

Elkins first shot a woman on nearby Harrison Street before he went to the West 79th Street home, where he killed the children, authorities said. He then fled and carjacked a person at gunpoint near the intersection of Linwood Avenue and West 79th Street.

Police officers exchanged gunfire with Elkins in neighboring Bossier Parish after a pursuit, Smith told reporters Monday.

Police initially said that officers fatally shot Elkins at that scene, but Smith said Monday that Elkins’ cause of death was still under investigation.

The photo at the top of Elkin’s Facebook profile, which has been verified by NBC News, shows him posing with eight children, including a baby seated on his lap.

On April 9, Elkins reposted a poem addressed to God. “Today I ask You to help me guard my mind and my emotions,” the poem reads in part. “When negativity arises, remind me to say, ‘It does not belong to me, in the name of Jesus.’”

Ryan Chandler reported from Shreveport; and Daniel Arkin from New York.

If you or someone you know is facing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence hotline for help at (800) 799-SAFE (7233), or go to www.thehotline.org for more. States often have domestic violence hotlines as well.