Polk County man kills wife, shoots and injures stepdaughter before taking own life, deputies say

POLK COUNTY, Fla. – The Polk County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a murder-suicide that left a woman dead, her daughter critically injured, and the woman’s husband dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound three days before Christmas, according to Sheriff Grady Judd.

Sheriff Judd said that around 11 p.m. on Monday, deputies responded to a 911 call from Lemon Avenue in the Highland City area of Lakeland.

A woman reported that her 12-year-old neighbor ran to her home and said his mother told him to call 911 after an argument escalated between his parents over a football game on television.

According to the sheriff’s Office, they determined that 47-year-old Jason Kenney had been in his shed before going inside to watch the end of an NFL football game. His wife objected, and an argument followed. The victim told her son to call 911, and as he fled the home, he heard a single gunshot.

Deputies arrived minutes later and found the victim, identified as Crystal Keney, dead in the living room from a gunshot wound to the head. A 13-year-old girl, the victim’s daughter, was discovered in her bedroom with two gunshot wounds. She was taken to a local hospital, where she remains in critical but stable condition. A one-year-old baby girl was found asleep in her crib, unharmed.

Deputies said that Jason Kenney then left in his truck and called his sister, who lives out of state, telling her he had done something really bad and “he was not going to jail.” He drove to his late father’s home in Lake Wales and entered a shed on the property. When deputies arrived and ordered him to come out, they heard a single gunshot. He was found dead inside from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

“Three days before Christmas, this man shot and killed his wife, shot his stepdaughter, and then shot and killed himself,” Sheriff Grady Judd said. “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.”