POLK COUNTY, Fla. — A teen girl was shot in the face and shoulder in a murder-suicide Monday evening at a Polk County home, according to Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.
According to Judd, deputies arrived within minutes of a 9-1-1 call just before 11 p.m. from Lemon Avenue in the Highland City area of Lakeland, when a woman reported that a 12-year-old neighbor ran to her house and asked her to call 911 because his stepfather and mother fighting.
When deputies entered the house and found Crystal Kenney, the wife of suspected killer Jason Kenney, shot in the head dead. In the bedroom, deputies found Crystal's daughter, the 13-year-old girl who was shot in once in the shoulder and once in the face, Judd said. The teen girl remains in critical condition, but stable at the hospital.
Judd added Jason did not harm his one-year-old biological child who was asleep in her crib, and the cause of the argument that escalated was over Crystal not wanting to watch a football game that Jason wanted to watch on TV.
"He shot a step daughter," Judd said. "He didn't get a chance to shoot a stepson who had run to dial 911."
According to the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Jason jumped into his vehicle and fled the scene and prior to deputies arriving, he is going toward Lake Wales when Judd said Jason calls his sister in upstate New York saying he's "done something very, very bad."
Judd said Jason then went to his deceased father's house, which apparently is currently in probate. He immediately goes into a shed.
Deputies set up around the area, calling for Jason to come out of the shed, which is adjacent to the home, when deputies hear a single gunshot, according to Judd.
Upon entry into the shed deputies find Jason had died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Judd also mentioned the discovery of a note from Crystal from sometime in the past, in which she told Jason about he's drinking and using cocaine again and that he needed God.
The note was not dated.
Investigators do not know who the guns registered to, and you don't have to register guns in Florida, Judd said.
In response to what's happening with the children, Judd said, "Well, right now they're with the grandparents. [Florida Department of Children and Families] call. DCF will take custody of them. They'll be they are placed right now with grandparents and long term DCF, and the grandparents will have to work that out."
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