A 13-year-old Florida girl survived critical gunshot wounds after her stepfather, Jason Kenney, 47, fatally shot her mother, Crystal Kenney, during a domestic dispute on December 22, 2025, before killing himself.​
Attack Sequence
The incident began around midnight in Polk County when Jason argued with Crystal over TV control during Monday Night Football. Crystal sent their 12-year-old son to a neighbor’s to call 911 as he fled amid escalating tension and a gunshot. Deputies found Crystal dead from a head wound and the 13-year-old shot in the shoulder and face—the bullet exiting the top of her head—while their infant sibling was unharmed.
Survivor Account
Sheriff Grady Judd spoke with the alert, talking teen in stable condition, who recounted begging Jason not to kill her, yet he shot anyway. The boy witnessed the initial shot; all three children, now orphans, are with maternal grandparents.
Aftermath
Jason fled to his late father’s property, barricaded in a shed, confessed “something very, very bad” to his sister, and died by suicide via gunshot as deputies approached. Judd called the girl’s survival a “Christmas miracle.”
