Feds Charge Man Over Gun Used in Shreveport Killings

Federal prosecutors arrested Charles Ford, 56, and charged him with being a felon in possession of a firearm and making a false statement relating to the gun Shamar Elkins used to kill eight children on April 19.

The ATF traced the firearm to its original purchaser, and a criminal complaint identified the weapon as a .22-caliber Mossberg 715P long rifle that the purchaser said she had given to Ford while hospitalized.

Ford initially denied possessing the gun to investigators but later admitted he kept it under the seat of his truck, saying he noticed it missing around March 9 and suspected Elkins had taken it, according to an affidavit.

Elkins, 31, killed eight children aged 3 to 11—seven of them his—and wounded two women before fleeing and dying during a confrontation with police, officials said.

Ford faces up to 15 years on the felon-in-possession charge and up to five years on the false-statement charge, and a detention hearing was scheduled for April 24, according to court records.