TRIGGER WARNING: This post contains information about suicide, which may be triggering to some.
The days leading up to Christmas are supposed to be full of love and fun, but for one Florida family, they were full of confusion and sadness. Jason Kenney, a man living in Lakeland, Florida, allegedly shot and killed his wife, Crystal, after an argument over television. More shockingly, he also tried to kill his teenage stepdaughter but was less successful. Realizing that he would likely be imprisoned, he turned the gun on himself, resulting in a murder-suicide. Thankfully, despite some major injuries, the girl survived the shooting, and she was able to help shed some insight into what happened that night.
The 13-year-old girl, who has not been named, spoke with Inside Edition about the argument on December 22, 2025, that led to her mother’s death.
“She wouldn’t change the channel to football because she wanted to watch another episode of Percy Jackson,” the girl explained.
During a news conference by the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 47-year-old Jason Kenney had been in his shed watching a football game when he decided to go into the house and watch the end. He had “been drinking during the evening,” and around 11 p.m., “an argument began when Crystal Kenney suggested they watch something else on television and the argument got really heated,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.
As the argument escalated, Crystal Kenney told her 12-year-old son to run to a neighbor’s house and call 911. While the boy was “leaving the house, he hears a gunshot,” Judd explained.
Unlike her brother, the girl stayed in the home and witnessed her stepfather kill her mother. She told Inside Edition that after Kenney shot his wife, he aimed his gun at her head.
“I begged him, ‘Don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me,’” she said. Sadly, Kenney didn’t listen. He shot the girl twice; one of the bullets went through her nose and out the top of her head, WFLA reported.
The couple shared a 1-year-old daughter who was also in the home at the time of the shooting, according to the outlet. Thankfully, she was unharmed.
After killing his wife and shooting his stepdaughter, Kenney drove away in his truck, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office shared in a release. He called his sister, telling her he did something “very bad,” and she would “see it on the news.” He also told her the conversation would be the “last time you’ll ever talk to me.” But assured her that he wasn’t going to jail.
Kenney drove to his deceased father’s property in Lake Wales and went into a shed. When police found him and demanded he come out, they heard a single gunshot. They found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
“Frankly, I don’t want to sound sinister, but the only thing he did right that night was shoot himself after those horrible deeds,” the sheriff said during the news conference.
The children are now being cared for by their maternal grandparents. Crystal Kenney’s sister, Stephanie Rourie, spoke with WFLA, saying the family had no idea her brother-in-law could be violent. She vowed, however, that the family would work together to preserve her sister’s memory.
“I would tell my sister that I’m sorry that this happened to you. You didn’t deserve this. I promise I will love your babies so hard,” Rourie told the outlet. “Her babies will never not know the type of mother she was. The love and the strength she had for them. They will know that. That will never stop.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up to help with funeral services and medical bills and to aid the transition for the children.
