N O L A.C O M
Students could have to repay lost TOPS funds
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M o n d ay, a p r i l 20, 2026
$2.00X
8 children killed in north Louisiana mass shooting Suspect killed by police after chase; most of the victims were his kids, Shreveport officials say
Bill would have them on the hook if they flunk out
BY HALEY MILLER Staff writer
A major shift could be coming to TOPS, the well-known scholarship that helps Louisiana high schoolers pay to attend in-state colleges. The Legislature is debating having students who stop meeting the requirements of the Taylor Opportunity Program for Students scholarship not only lose their funding, which is the current practice, but pay what they have received back to the state. “If a student accepts TOPS funds, there is a responsibility to meet the program’s requirements,” bill author Rep. Dennis Bamburg, R-Bossier City, said. “If those obligations aren’t met with good cause, taxpayers deserve a mechanism to recover those dol- Bamburg lars.” Some legislators immediately expressed reservations about the bill. TOPS is widely recognized as a significant incentive for the state’s high schoolers to pursue a college education. “There’s nobody more conservative about how we spend our money than me,” Rep. Phillip Tarver, RLake Charles, said. “I probably get in trouble for other things on the other extreme. But I don’t know about a student — like you said, he earned that scholarship. I’m not sure how we can take it away just because he doesn’t properly apply himself, and he makes a mistake, and he needs to move on and go do something else.” The legislation narrowly cleared the House Committee on Education 6-5 last Tuesday, with chair Rep. Laurie Schlegel, R-Metairie, casting the tiebreaking vote. Some members voted
ä See TOPS, page 6A
A house on 79th Street in Shreveport is among the four locations tied to a mass shooting Sunday.
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BY BRIAN McCALLUM
Suspect killed
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Staff writer
CADDO PARISH Cross Lake
220 20
Area of killings
BOSSIER PARISH Shreveport Red River
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71
171
49
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Staff map
Police said the Shreveport gunman who shot up two houses early Sunday killed seven of his own children, as well as killing another child. Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon said Sunday evening that the suspect, Shamar Elkins, shot one woman, who was mother to some of the children, first and then killed the eight children at a home in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. The minor victims ranged in age from 1 to about 12 years old. The suspect died after a police pursuit, Shreveport Police Department spokesperson Chris Bordelon said at a news conference.
STAFF PHOTO By By JILL PICKETT
Shreveport police responded to four connected crime scenes early Sunday — including one in Bossier City. Bordelon said detectives were confident the shooting was “entirely a domestic incident.” “We believe the offender in this case did execute some of his own children,” Bordelon said. Elkins was shot and killed by a Shreveport police officer after he allegedly carjacked a vehicle near the intersection of West 70th Street and Linwood Avenue and fled into Bossier City. Police said officers pursued Elkins where he stopped in a subdivision north of Interstate 220. Elkins got out of his vehicle with a weapon and was shot by
ä See SHOOTING, page 5A
Top New Orleans criminal defense attorney turns to trash Billy Gibbens taking over River Birch landfill
nent criminal suspects has given up his defense practice for a fresh career: running a landfill. Not just any landfill. Billy Gibbens, whose client list has BY JOHN SIMERMAN included former New Orleans Mayor Staff writer LaToya Cantrell, District Attorney JaA go-to defense attorney for New Or- son Williams, retired Saints star Darleans’ elected leaders and other promi- ren Sharper, rapper Christopher “B.G.”
WEATHER HIGH 75 LOW 59 PAGE 6B
Dorsey and serial murder suspect Robert Durst, is now president and general counsel of River Birch LLC. Fred Heebe, who with father-in-law Jim Ward built River Birch into one of Louisiana’s largest landfills, said a recent lung cancer diagnosis forced them to address a future that includes major expansion plans.
Heebe, 73, said he turned to Gibbens without reservation — “Wouldn’t you?” he said — to head the company under a succession plan that involves Heebe’s daughter, who remains in college. Ward is 98. “It wasn’t that I was looking to move
ä See GIBBENS, page 6A
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