Inset: Jason Kenney (Polk County Sheriff”s Office). Background: Lemon Avenue in Lakeland, Florida, where Kenney allegedly shot his wife and stepdaughter (Google Maps).
In a tragic incident in Florida, law enforcement officials are delving into a murder-suicide case that has left a 13-year-old girl wounded following a domestic dispute, allegedly sparked by a disagreement over watching Monday Night Football.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reported that deputies were dispatched shortly before 11 p.m. on Monday to a residence on Lemon Avenue in Lakeland. The call for help came after a 12-year-old boy fled to a neighbor’s house, seeking assistance as a violent altercation erupted between his mother, Crystal Kenney, and his stepfather, 47-year-old Jason Kenney. As the boy escaped, he reportedly heard gunfire.
Upon arriving at the scene, deputies discovered Crystal Kenney had been fatally shot, while her 13-year-old daughter had sustained gunshot wounds to her face and shoulder. Miraculously, a 1-year-old child at the home was unharmed. Crystal Kenney was declared dead at the scene, and her daughter was rushed to a hospital, where she remains in critical but stable condition.
“The bullet struck the bridge of her nose, traveled upward, and exited through the top of her head,” explained Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd regarding the injuries sustained by the 13-year-old during a press briefing.
The sheriff further noted that the young girl is conscious and able to communicate, describing her survival as a “Christmas miracle.”
“That’s a Christmas miracle,” Judd said.
Deputies identified Jason Kenney as the suspect and learned he fled the scene in his truck. As he drove, he called his sister in upstate New York and said “I did something terrible and this is the last time you’ll ever talk to me,” according to Judd. “You’ll see me on the news, but I am not going to jail. I’m not going to jail for the rest of my life.”
He drove to his father’s house in nearby Lake Wales and hid in a shed, Judd said. Deputies were trying to coax him out when they heard a gunshot. They entered the shed where they found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An investigation revealed the suspect became enraged at his wife when she suggested changing the channel toward the end of the Monday Night Football game. He pulled out a gun and shot her in the head, Judd said.
Then the suspect turned his sights on his stepdaughter.
“She said, ‘I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me,’ and he shot me anyway,” the girl told detectives.
Investigators also found an undated letter Crystal Kenney wrote to her husband, where she told him she was concerned about his drug and alcohol use.
Judd called the shooting “horrific,” especially considering the time of year.
“He just absolutely destroyed a family, literally, and the mental health of two children without their mama and an infant that will grow up without a mother and a father three days before Christmas,” he said.
