Highland City, Fla. – Polk County deputies are investigating a tragic murder-suicide that occurred Monday night, December 22, 2025, leaving a mother dead, her daughter critically injured, and a father deceased.
Just before 11:00 p.m., a 12-year-old boy ran to a neighbor’s house on Lemon Avenue, reporting that his mother and stepfather were fighting and that he had heard a gunshot. Deputies arrived to find 47-year-old Jason Kenney’s wife deceased in the living room from a gunshot wound to the head. Their 13-year-old daughter was found in her bedroom with two gunshot wounds and was transported to a local hospital, where she remains in critical but stable condition. The couple’s one-year-old daughter was unharmed in her crib.
According to the investigation, the argument began when Kenney wanted to watch an NFL football game, which his wife refused to watch. During the altercation, Kenney instructed the boy to call 911. After the shooting, Kenney fled in his truck and contacted his sister, telling her he had “done something really bad” and would not go to jail.
Kenney drove to his father’s home in Lake Wales, where he entered a shed. Deputies arrived and, after calling for him to come out, heard a single gunshot. Inside the shed, they found Kenney deceased from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Sheriff Grady Judd said, “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.”
The investigation remains ongoing, and authorities are offering support services to the surviving children.
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