Man kills wife, shoots stepdaughter before shooting himself after argument over football game: Grady Judd

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - An argument over Monday Night Football ended with a horrific rampage in Polk County that left two people dead and one critically injured, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.

The sheriff’s office says Jason Kenney started yelling at his wife, Crystal Kenney, after she suggested he turn off the San Francisco 49ers football game. Jason had been drinking throughout the night and the argument escalated to the point where Crystal told her 12-year-old son to call 911.

The boy ran to a neighbor's house for help and that’s when he heard gunshots.

PCSO deputies arrived at the home a short time later and found Crystal dead. When they entered a bedroom in the home, they found a 13-year-old girl who had been shot in the shoulder and the face.

She was taken to a nearby hospital where she is in critical condition, but alert and able to talk. Judd said that it was a miracle she was alive.

"She said, 'I begged him, don't shoot me, don't shoot me, don't shoot me, and he shot me anyway,'" Judd said.

What they're saying:

"How does an argument over a television program end up with a murder, an attempted murder and a suicide? This should never happen," said Judd.

After the shooting, Jason took off in his car before deputies arrived. During the drive, Judd says that Jason called his sister, who lives in upstate New York, to tell her that he had done something very bad and this was the last time he would talk to her. 

Jason drove to his dead father’s home in Lake Wales and deputies located him in a shed. As they were trying to get him out, he shot himself in the head.

"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."

During a news conference on Tuesday morning, Judd said that the inside of this family’s home seemed normal.

"The entire family was destroyed. And I must tell you, our homicide detectives are distraught. When they go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under the tree just like the nuclear family should be."

The sheriff says deputies found a note inside the family's home.

"We found a note that at some time in the past Crystal wrote, and it was open, where she told Jason, you know, 'You're drinking, you're using cocaine again, this is not the way the family should be. You need God,'" Judd said.

Judd's message to others is that there is help available. He urges people to reach out for help before a situation reaches this point.

"He could have gotten mental health help," Judd said. "We'd have done anything we could for him and the family in advance. But he just absolutely destroyed a family."

The backstory:

Neighbors told deputies that this wasn’t the first time that Jason had acted in an abusive way, but Judd says that there have never been any calls to the home. Jason does not have a criminal history.

The 12 and 13-year-olds were Jason’s stepchildren. The couple also had a one-year-old girl together who was also inside the home during the incident. She was found asleep in her crib and was unharmed.

The children are now living with their grandparents.