00:00It is hugely sad when it's around Christmas, and what I'm about to describe to you is even
00:06ten times that worse. And it started last night in Highland City.
00:14Jason Kinney, who's 47, is married to Crystal Kinney.
00:21And Jason's been drinking during the evening,
00:24and he's watching his football team, the 49ers, play football.
00:32Well, they're having a good night. They're winning. In fact, they won big.
00:37Sometime toward the end of the game, at around 11 o'clock,
00:43an argument began when Crystal suggested they watch something else on television.
00:48And the argument got really heated.
00:52And Crystal told her 12-year-old son to go call 9-1-1.
01:03So the 12-year-old flees to the neighbor's house in order to dial 9-1-1.
01:09And as he's leaving the house, he hears a gunshot.
01:13Deputies arrive with, in less than five minutes of the calls for service.
01:22And when we enter the house, we see that Crystal Kinney,
01:29the wife of Jason, is shot in the head and dead.
01:33But it gets worse.
01:38We go into the bedroom, and we see a 13-year-old child, a little girl.
01:47She shot twice.
01:49She shot in the shoulder, and she shot in the face.
01:52We later learned the bullet in the face hit her on the bridge of the nose,
01:59went straight up and out the top of her head.
02:03She is alive in critical condition, but stable at Lakeland Regional Health,
02:11and is alert and talking.
02:17That's a Christmas miracle.
02:21Jason shot her twice and intended to kill her.
02:25He didn't, however, shoot his biological child, thank God,
02:33who was one year old and in a crib.
02:37He shot his stepdaughter.
02:39He didn't get a chance to shoot his stepson who had run to dial 9-1-1.
02:44Jason then jumps into his vehicle
02:46and flees the scene just prior to deputies arriving.
02:52He is going toward Lake Wells.
02:54He calls his sister in upstate New York,
02:57and he says,
02:59I've done something very, very bad.
03:01Very bad.
03:02I did something terrible.
03:04And this is the last time you'll ever talk to me.
03:08You'll see me on the news.
03:11But I am not going to jail.
03:14I'm not going to jail for the rest of my life.
03:18So he goes to his father's house,
03:21which apparently is currently in probate,
03:24his father's deceased,
03:26and there's a friend that's staying there.
03:31When he gets to the house,
03:33he immediately goes into a shed.
03:39Deputies now are tracking Jason.
03:41We set up a perimeter and start hailing for Jason to come out,
03:46to come out of this shed,
03:47which is adjacent to the home.
03:51And the deputies hear a single gunshot.
03:55When we make entrance into the shed,
03:58we find that Jason has shot himself in the forehead,
04:02and he too is deceased.
04:04I want you to think about this a minute.
04:09As the investigations unfolded during the night,
04:13and we're still in the preliminary stages,
04:16and as I always say when we talk soon,
04:18whatever we give you today is subject to modification.
04:21We found a note that sometime in the past,
04:26Crystal wrote,
04:27and it was open,
04:29where she told Jason,
04:31you know,
04:32you're drinking,
04:32you're using cocaine again,
04:34this is not the way the family should be.
04:37You need God.
04:40Crystal,
04:40by the way,
04:41goes to church every Sunday.
04:42We don't know when she wrote the note.
04:48It's not dated.
04:49There's no time.
04:50There's no indication,
04:52but it was open.
04:53So did she write it,
04:55as they argued earlier in the evening,
04:57or had it been some period of time?
05:00We can't determine that.
05:03We also were able to talk to the 12-year-old,
05:08our Christmas miracle.
05:10She said,
05:11I begged him,
05:11don't shoot me.
05:12Don't shoot me.
05:13Don't shoot me.
05:13And he shot me anyway.
05:20This is things that are never supposed to happen.
05:24And certainly,
05:25we are all very,
05:27very happy
05:28that our little 13-year-old girl
05:31is,
05:33from every indication,
05:35going to survive and thrive.
05:37But the investigation's still underway.
05:40But this is a family disturbance
05:44that apparently had gone on for some time.
05:49We talked to another family member,
05:50we talked to another family member,
05:50and that family member said,
05:54oh, he's been beaten on her for a while.
05:58So we've checked our records to see if we received any calls at the residence,
06:03and we have not.
06:05He has never been arrested for domestic violence.
06:08But bottom line is,
06:11three days before Christmas,
06:16he shot and killed his wife.
06:19He shot his 13-year-old stepdaughter twice and intended to kill her.
06:24He called his sister
06:27and confessed
06:30that he did something terrible.
06:34And then rather than be arrested,
06:35shot and killed himself.
06:39Quite frankly,
06:40I don't want to sound sinister,
06:42but the only thing he did right
06:43that night
06:44was shoot himself
06:45after those horrible deeds.
06:49If he felt that way,
06:50he could have taken himself out
06:52and not hurt those two beautiful people.
06:55So,
06:56it's sad any time.
06:58It's horrific any time.
07:00He had a chance.
07:02He could have gotten mental health help.
07:04We'd have done anything we could
07:06for him and the family
07:07in advance.
07:09But he
07:10just absolutely destroyed a family.
07:15Literally.
07:16And the mental health
07:18of two children
07:20without their
07:20their mama
07:22and an infant
07:23that will grow up
07:24without a mother
07:25and a father
07:25three days before Christmas.
07:29Any questions?
07:31You said the 12-year-old
07:32that's asked
07:33not to be shot at.
07:34Do you mean the 13-year-old?
07:35I meant the 13-year-old.
07:3712-year-old was the boy.
07:38The 13-year-old was the girl.
07:40The 13-year-old girl
07:41begged not to be shot.
07:44Please don't shoot me.
07:46Please don't shoot me.
07:47And he shot her twice.
07:48Anyway, the 12-year-old
07:50had fled out of the house
07:52and he, the 12-year-old,
07:54heard the first gunshot
07:55as he was leaving.
07:58Wasn't that neighbor
07:59that ended up being able
08:00to call 9-1-1?
08:01He went to a neighbor's house
08:03and 9-1-1 was dialed
08:06from the neighbor's house.
08:08Was the gun registered to him?
08:10We don't know
08:11who the gun's registered to
08:12and you don't have to register
08:13guns in Florida.
08:14So we will do a background
08:17on the gun,
08:18but that's,
08:18it's too early
08:19to determine ownership.
08:21But the reality is
08:22in Florida,
08:23we don't register guns.
08:25And I know you said
08:26he didn't have a,
08:27there hadn't been prior
08:28domestic violence
08:28related calls.
08:29Did he have any other,
08:30you know,
08:31history of any sort of gun?
08:32No criminal history.
08:34What happens
08:35to these children now?
08:36Well, right now
08:37they're with the grandparents.
08:40DCF's call.
08:41DCF will take custody of them.
08:43They'll be,
08:44they are placed right now
08:45with grandparents.
08:47And long term,
08:49the DCF
08:50and the grandparents
08:51will have to work that out.
08:52Because,
08:53you know,
08:54I understand
08:55that the 12-year-old boy
08:57and the 13-year-old girl
08:58who was shot,
09:00that their father
09:02is in California.
09:04Some places
09:04never had any interaction
09:06with the children.
09:07That's the early information.
09:09And of course,
09:10the infants,
09:11mom and dad,
09:12are deceased.
09:13So,
09:14the entire
09:15family was destroyed.
09:19And I must tell you,
09:20our homicide detectives
09:21are distraught.
09:23When they go in there,
09:24there's a beautiful
09:25Christmas tree
09:26with lots of Christmas presents
09:28under the tree,
09:29just like the nuclear family
09:31should be.
09:33And so they said,
09:34we see this big,
09:35beautiful Christmas tree.
09:36We see the presents
09:37wrapped underneath the tree.
09:39We see the evidence
09:41of a wonderful Christmas
09:44about to occur
09:45in this house.
09:46She goes to church.
09:48She tells him,
09:49you need God.
09:50You're slipping
09:50into abusive drugs
09:53and alcohol.
09:55And it ends up
09:57this way.
09:59And quite frankly,
10:00it's not surprising.
10:03I've seen some women
10:05protect their husbands
10:06and she never called on him.
10:09But apparently,
10:09he's been known
10:10for injuring her
10:11in the past.
10:14What's the message,
10:15just especially
10:16since it's Christmas time,
10:17to other families?
10:18I mean,
10:18I know this is
10:19probably the worst possible.
10:20Sure.
10:20My message to everyone
10:22is there's always help.
10:24Free help.
10:26Dial 911
10:27and say,
10:28I need help.
10:31Call
10:31any
10:32human services.
10:35We'll all provide help.
10:37None of this
10:37had to occur.
10:38There's no reason
10:39for this to occur.
10:41How does an argument
10:42over a television program
10:44end up
10:46with a murder,
10:47an attempted murder,
10:50and a suicide
10:51that should never happen?
10:53So call for help.
10:55We have all kinds
10:56of services.
10:57We will come to you.
10:58We do house calls.
11:00We'll come to you
11:01and help you.
11:04Don't hurt yourself.
11:07Don't hurt a loved one.
11:10The letter
11:11could have been
11:12what started this argument.
11:13I have no idea.
11:14I have no idea about that.
11:16We have no idea
11:17that whether or not
11:19she wrote the letter
11:19last night
11:20or this has been
11:22build up over time.
11:23That will be part
11:24of the investigation
11:25into the future.
11:26But it was there
11:27and it was open
11:28for the detectives
11:29to see.
11:30It's not like we
11:31had to search it up
11:32in the house.
11:33You said it was found
11:33on him?
11:34No, it was found
11:35in the house.
11:37You said that this was
11:38in Highland City
11:39where specifically?
11:41Yeah, we normally
11:42don't give the address
11:43of victims
11:44and certainly
11:47we have victims
11:49that are still alive
11:50that potentially
11:51may live there.
11:55Okay?
11:57Now that's over,
11:59you all have
12:00a Merry Christmas.
12:01Okay?
12:01But tell everybody
12:02there's help.
12:04So depression,
12:05we see depression
12:06go up.
12:07We see suicides
12:08go up.
12:08and all of this
12:11didn't have to happen.
12:12Okay?
12:13God bless y'all.
12:14Bye-bye.
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