On Monday, December 22, 2025, just before 11 p.m., Polk County Sheriff’s deputies in Lakeland, Florida, responded to a shooting report on Lemon Avenue. A 12-year-old boy fled to a neighbor’s house after hearing his mother, Crystal Kenney, argue with his stepfather, 47-year-old Jason Kenney. Deputies found Crystal dead from a gunshot wound to the head, her 13-year-old daughter shot in the face and shoulder (bullet entered the bridge of her nose and exited the top of her head), and a 1-year-old girl unharmed. The 13-year-old survived in critical but stable condition, now alert and talking—described by Sheriff Grady Judd as a “Christmas miracle.”
Sequence of Events
The argument escalated when Crystal asked Jason to turn off the Monday Night Football game near its end. Enraged, Jason shot her in the head, then turned on his stepdaughter despite her pleas of “don’t shoot me.” He fled in his truck, called his sister in New York saying, “I did something terrible… I’m not going to jail,” and hid in a shed at his father’s house in nearby Lake Wales. Deputies negotiating his surrender heard a gunshot; they found him dead from a self-inflicted wound.
Investigation Details
Sheriff Judd labeled the murder-suicide “horrific,” noting it destroyed a family three days before Christmas—leaving two children without their mother and an infant without both parents. Detectives found an undated letter from Crystal expressing concerns over Jason’s drug and alcohol use. The 13-year-old recounted begging for her life to investigators.
This tragedy underscores risks of domestic violence fueled by substance issues and escalating arguments, especially around holidays. Updates may follow as the surviving girl recovers.
