MURDER-SUICIDE: Central Florida Mother Dead, Teen Girl Shot After NFL Game Argument Turns Violent

‘A Family Destroyed’: Football Argument Leads to Tragic Murder-Suicide

POLK COUNTY, FLORIDA – A domestic dispute inside a Central Florida home late Monday night ended in a deadly shooting that left a mother dead, her teenage daughter critically injured, and the suspected gunman dead by suicide just days before Christmas, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Judd identified the victims as Crystal Kenney, a mother of three, and her 13-year-old daughter.

Investigators say Crystal’s husband, Jason Kenney, 47, opened fire during an argument that began over watching a Monday Night Football game on television.

According to Judd, Jason Kenney had been drinking while watching the San Francisco 49ers–Indianapolis Colts game in a shed behind the family’s home.

He later went inside to watch the final minutes of the game, where an argument erupted after Crystal objected to his continuing to control the television.

As the confrontation escalated, Crystal instructed her 12-year-old son to run to a neighbor’s house to call 911. The boy fled the home, but as he was leaving, he heard gunshots, Judd said.

Deputies arrived within minutes and found Crystal Kenney dead inside the home, having been shot in the head. In a bedroom, they discovered her 13-year-old daughter suffering from two gunshot wounds—one to the shoulder and one to the face.

The injured girl later told investigators she pleaded with Jason not to shoot her before he fired, according to Judd. Authorities said the bullet entered the bridge of her nose and exited through the top of her head.

Despite the severity of the injury, she survived and remains hospitalized in critical but stable condition. She is alert and able to speak, deputies said.

A one-year-old daughter shared by Jason and Crystal was also inside the home at the time of the shooting but was unharmed. Deputies later found the toddler asleep in her crib.

After the shooting, Jason Kenney fled the scene before law enforcement arrived. During his escape, he called his sister in upstate New York and told her he had done “something very, very bad,” Judd said, adding that Jason told her the next time she would see him would be “on the news.”

Investigators tracked Jason Kenney to his father’s property, where he barricaded himself inside a shed.

Deputies attempted to negotiate with him, but moments later, a single gunshot was heard. Jason Kenney was found dead inside the shed from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

During a search of the family’s home, deputies discovered a handwritten note Crystal had written to her husband, urging him to seek help. In the note, she referenced concerns about his drinking and cocaine use and encouraged him to turn to faith and address his behavior, Judd said.

Judd described the case as emotionally devastating for both the family and investigators.

“He just absolutely destroyed a family,” Judd said during a press conference. “Not to mention the mental health of two children without their mother and a father three days before Christmas.”

All three children are now in the custody of their maternal grandparents.

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