By Paul Waldmiller
Did you know that a Florida man fatally shot his wife and critically wounded his 13-year-old stepdaughter in a domestic dispute over watching a Monday Night Football game?
Jason Kenney, 47 had an argument with his wife, Crystal Kenney, 38 while watching a football game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Indianapolis Colts, before taking his own life on December 22, 2025, just days before Christmas, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office. The incident occurred after Kenney, who had been drinking, argued with his wife over changing the channel, leading to a violent confrontation in their Lakeland home. The stepdaughter, who survived after being shot in the face, later told investigators she begged her stepfather not to shoot her, but he did so anyway.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s office, Jason Kenney had been watching the game in his shed before moving to the living room to continue watching with his wife. Later, Crystal Kenney instructed her 12-year-old son to go to a neighbor’s house and call 911; the boy heard a gunshot as he left the home.
Deputies found Crystal Kenney’s body and her critically injured stepdaughter at the scene, while the couple’s one-year-old baby girl was unharmed and asleep in her crib. After fleeing the scene, Kenney called his sister in New York, telling her he had done something “very, very bad” and that he would not go to jail, before being found dead in a shed at his late father’s home.
Authorities discovered an undated note from Crystal Kenney to her husband, expressing concern about his drinking and drug use, though the timing of the note remains unknown. The Polk County Sheriff, Grady Judd, described the event as a “Christmas miracle” that the baby survived and called the act “literally” the destruction of a family.
Editor’s Note: If you are in need emotional support, reach out to the national mental health hotline, dial 988.