A dispute over a Florida man wanting to watch “Monday Night Football” preceded a horrific murder-suicide, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said.
“Just before 11:00 p.m. on Monday, December 22, 2025, the PCSO ECC received a 911 call from Lemon Avenue in the Highland City area of Lakeland, during which a woman reported that a 12-year-old neighbor ran to her house and asked her to call 911 due to his stepfather and mother fighting. The child reported hearing a single gunshot as he ran from his home,” the Polk County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.
“He ran to the neighbor for help because his mother told him to ‘call 911’ as an argument was escalating between the adults,” it continued.
According to reports, Jason Kenney, 47, had been drinking and his wife, Crystal Kenney, suggested he turn off the NFL football game between the San Francisco 49ers and Indianapolis Colts.
Detectives determined Kenney had been inside his shed when he decided to go inside and watch the end of the game on the television in the living room, where his wife was.
The argument ensued when his wife told him she did not want to watch football.
“The victim then yelled to her son to call 911 and he ran from the house, hearing a single gunshot behind him,” the release stated.
“When deputies arrived a few minutes later, they located the victim deceased in the living room with a gunshot wound to her head. They also located a 13-year-old girl, the victim’s daughter, in her bedroom with two gunshot wounds. She was transported to a local hospital, where she is in critical but stable condition. They also found the couple’s one-year-old baby girl asleep in her crib, unharmed,” it continued.
Kenney later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Florida man kills wife, shoots stepdaughter over NFL game argument before taking own life https://t.co/dre2XDrpLA pic.twitter.com/K6mMmrd0uw
— New York Post (@nypost) December 26, 2025
More from the New York Post:
The teen was rushed to a local hospital in critical condition where she is recovering — and was able to give cops a horrifying account of her ordeal.
“‘I begged him, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, don’t shoot me, and he shot me anyway,’” she told investigators, according to Judd.
The boy who fled was not hurt, nor was the couple’s 1-year-old daughter, who was found asleep in her crib, cops said.
Kenney was the stepfather of Crystal’s two older children.
Kenney, meanwhile, initially fled the scene and called his sister in upstate New York, telling her he had “done something” bad and they would never talk again.
He then drove to his father’s home where police tracked him down.
As deputies attempted to get him out of a shed, he fatally shot himself, Judd said.
During a search of the family’s home, deputies found a note Crystal wrote to her husband urging him to get help for his substance abuse.
“Three days before Christmas, this man shot and killed his wife, shot his stepdaughter, and then shot and killed himself. This is horrific, but destroying a family and the mental health of these children so close to Christmas is especially horrific. We will do everything we can to help this family get through this difficult time,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
“Absolutely horrific situation this week. We’re gathering up the survivors and making sure they still have as nice of a Christmas as one can have when losing a loved one this way. Please keep them in your prayers,” Judd wrote on X.
Absolutely horrific situation this week. We’re gathering up the survivors and making sure they still have as nice of a Christmas as one can have when losing a loved one this way. Please keep them in your prayers. #polksheriff #newsclip pic.twitter.com/knhoR7WWeq
— Polk County Sheriff
Grady Judd (@PolkCoSheriff) December 24, 2025
WPBF noted:
The 13-year-old remains in critical condition, and the other children are now with their grandparents.
Watch the full press conference: