Florida man kills wife, shoots stepdaughter before killing himself after being asked to turn off NFL game

A man in Florida fatally shot his wife and heavily injured his stepdaughter before he then turned the gun on himself after his wife asked for him to turn off an NFL game earlier this week, according to police.  

Jason Kenney, 47, killed himself just hours after he fatally shot his wife, Crystal Kenney, on December 22, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told reporters at a press conference. Judd said that the murder took place after the wife suggested that the husband turn off the NFL game between the Indianapolis Colts and San Francisco 49ers. 

The argument came as Kenney was drinking, and tensions escalated, leading his wife to have her 12-year-old son call 911. After running to a neighbor's home to call authorities, the son heard gunshots from the home. Police arrived minutes later to find Crystal Kenney dead, and Jason Kenney's 13-year-old stepdaughter shot in the face and shoulder. The stepdaughter is recovering at a hospital. 

"She said, ‘I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, and he shot me anyway.’” The boy was not harmed in the incident. Jason and Crystal’s 1-year-old daughter was home during the shooting but was found unharmed asleep in her crib. After shooting his wife, Jason Kenney called his sister and said he had “done something wrong” and said that was the last time he would speak to her. Jason drove to his father’s home and when police attempted to detain him, he shot himself in a shed, police said.

As police searched the Kenneys’ home, they found a note from Crystal telling her husband that he needed help. "You’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God,” the note addressed to Jason Kenney said. 

"The entire family was destroyed," Judd said of the crime. "Our homicide detectives are distraught. When you go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under it, just like the nuclear family should be."

The children are now in the custody of their grandparents.