A Florida family was ripped apart by a burst of domestic violence crime after a drunken argument over a NFL football game erupted into gunfire, leaving a woman dead, a teenage girl critically wounded, and a husband who ultimately took his own life, authorities said.
Florida dad Jason Kenney, 47, fatally shot his wife, Crystal Kenney, during a heated dispute inside their home after she suggested he turn off a televised San Francisco 49ers–Indianapolis Colts game on Sunday. Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the argument, fueled by alcohol, quickly escalated into what he described as a massive fight.
Florida man kills wife, wounds stepdaughter, then takes own life after an NFL game argument, authorities confirm.
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Florida Investigators said Jason Kenney had been drinking when the confrontation began. Fearing for her children, Crystal Kenney told her 12-year-old son to call 911. The boy ran from the Florida house to a neighbor’s home for help. While there, he heard gunshots coming from his own house, a moment deputies said was deeply traumatic.
When Florida deputies arrived, they found Crystal Kenney shot dead. They also discovered her 13-year-old daughter had been shot in the face and shoulder. The teen was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition. She is now recovering and was able to recount the horrifying ordeal to investigators. “‘I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, and he shot me anyway,’” she told detectives, according to Sheriff Judd.
Florida Authorities said the 12-year-old boy who fled the house was not physically harmed. Nor was the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, who was found asleep in her crib when Polk County Deputies searched the home. Jason Kenney was the stepfather to Crystal’s two older children, a detail officials said underscores the devastating impact on a blended family.
After the shootings, Jason Kenney fled the scene in his vehicle. Florida investigators later learned he called his sister in upstate New York, telling her he had “done something” bad and that they would never speak again. Kenney then drove to his father’s home, where law enforcement tracked him down hours later.
Florida deputies surrounded the property and attempted to coax Kenney out of a shed behind the home. As they worked to negotiate with him, Kenney fatally shot himself, Sheriff Judd said. Jason Kenney was pronounced dead at the scene.
During a search of the Florida family’s home, deputies uncovered a handwritten note Crystal had written to her husband, urging him to seek help for substance abuse. “You’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God,” the note stated, according to Sheriff Judd. The sheriff said the message revealed the depth of the struggles Crystal had been facing in the weeks leading up to her death.
The scene inside the home left Florida investigators shaken. “The entire family was destroyed,” Sheriff Judd said. “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.”
Extreme response after the 49ers vs. Colts game. https://t.co/TnpugUtn4h
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Florida law enforcement recovered at least one firearm believed to have been used in the killing of Crystal Kenney, the shooting of the teen, and Kenney’s suicide. Detectives continue to process evidence and interview witnesses as part of the ongoing investigation.
Sheriff Judd emphasized that while the dispute reportedly began over a football game, sports were not the true cause. He pointed instead to substance abuse, uncontrolled anger, and access to a gun as the lethal combination that turned a domestic argument into a deadly tragedy.
Crystal Kenney is being remembered as a Florida mother who tried to protect her children in her final moments, sending her son to get help and leaving behind a written plea for her husband to seek treatment. What should have been an ordinary Sunday ended with a woman dead, a teenage girl wounded, a young boy fleeing for safety, and a toddler spared only by circumstance — a stark reminder of how quickly domestic turmoil can turn fatal.
