Florida Mother Fatally Shot in Family Argument Over NFL Game
A Florida family tragedy unfolded on December 22, just days before Christmas. A mother of three, 33-year-old Crystal Kenney, was fatally shot inside her home after an argument over a Monday Night Football game spiraled into violence. Her 13-year-old daughter survived severe injuries and remains in critical condition.
The attack was carried out by her 47-year-old husband, Jason Kenney, who also assaulted his teenage stepdaughter before fleeing the scene. Authorities later confirmed that Jason took his own life.
“He just absolutely destroyed a family. Literally,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.
The Argument Turns Deadly
According to Sheriff Judd, Jason had been drinking while watching the San Francisco 49ers vs. Indianapolis Colts game in a shed behind the family home. When he returned inside to catch the final minutes, an argument erupted over control of the television.
Crystal tried to intervene and sent her 12-year-old son next door to call 911. “As he’s leaving the house, he hears a gunshot,” Sheriff Judd said. Deputies arrived minutes later, but Crystal had suffered a fatal head wound.
The 13-year-old daughter was found in a bedroom with serious injuries to her face and shoulder. Despite her trauma, she managed to recount the events to authorities before being rushed to the hospital. “She said, ‘I begged him, don’t shoot me,’ and he shot her anyway,” Judd recalled, calling her survival a “Christmas miracle.”
Meanwhile, the one-year-old baby girl shared by Jason and Crystal was found unharmed, asleep in her crib.
Flight and Final Call
After the shootings, Jason fled in a vehicle and called his sister in New York, warning her: “The next time you see me will be on the news.” Deputies tracked him to his father’s property, where he barricaded himself in a shed. Negotiations failed, and a single gunshot ended his life.
Investigators found a handwritten note from Crystal addressing her husband’s substance relapse. She wrote:
“You’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God.”
Haunting Contrast Between Appearances and Reality
Sheriff Judd described the home as deceptively idyllic.
“There was a beautiful Christmas tree with presents under it, just like the nuclear family should be,” he said. The tragic events starkly contrasted with the festive setting.
Children Placed with Grandparents
The surviving children—a 12-year-old son, the critically injured teenage daughter, and the baby—are now in the custody of their maternal grandparents.
“The only thing he did right that night was shoot himself,” Sheriff Judd said of Jason Kenney.
