Florida Mom Killed Protecting Children After Husband’s Rage Over NFL Game, Sheriff Says

A Florida mother was killed late last month after shielding her children during a domestic shooting that erupted when her husband became enraged over an NFL game, authorities said, as reported by The New York Post.

The woman’s actions, including sending her son to seek help, are being credited by family members and law enforcement with saving the lives of her children.

According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, 38-year-old Crystal Roure was shot and killed by her husband, 47-year-old Jason Kenney, on Dec. 22 at their home in Lakeland, Florida. The shooting occurred just days before Christmas.

⚠️ WARNING: This post contains descriptions of domestic violence, murder-suicide, and child injury.

A 37-year-old Florida mother, Crystal Roure, is being hailed as a hero after she was fatally shot while protecting her three children from her husband during a violent rampage.… pic.twitter.com/oQm10cr6NA

— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) January 12, 2026

Sheriff Grady Judd said Kenney had been drinking while watching the San Francisco 49ers play the Indianapolis Colts.

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Investigators said Kenney became angry after Roure asked him to turn off the football game because she did not want to watch anymore.

Kenney had “been drinking during the evening” as he watched his favorite team, the 49ers, defeat the Colts, the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

When Roure told him she no longer wanted to watch football, deputies said Kenney became increasingly upset.

At approximately 11 p.m., the argument escalated. Judd said Roure told her 12-year-old son to run to a neighbor’s house and call 911.

“The argument got really heated,” Judd told reporters.

As the boy fled the house, he heard a gunshot, according to the sheriff. Deputies were dispatched to the residence and discovered Roure dead inside the home.

Her 13-year-old daughter, Kenney’s stepdaughter, had been shot in the face and was critically injured, deputies said.

Despite the severity of the wound, the teenager survived. According to USA Today, the bullet struck her nose and ricocheted through the top of her head. The couple’s baby daughter, their only child together, was asleep in her crib and was not harmed.

Roure’s sister, Stephanie Roure, said her sister’s actions saved the children’s lives.

“My sister died a hero for protecting her children and getting my nephew out of the house to make the 911 call. She did that. She saved their lives, and by doing s,o my nephew saved his sister’s life, and thank God the baby was untouched,” she told USA Today.

After the shooting, Kenney fled to his late father’s nearby home, Judd said. He later called his sister in upstate New York and made a chilling confession.

“I’ve done something very, very bad, very bad,” Kenney told her, according to Judd.

“You’ll see me on the news, but I am not going to jail. I’m not going to jail for the rest of my life,” he said.

When deputies located Kenney at the property, they heard a single gunshot coming from a shed. Authorities said Kenney died by suicide.

Roure had two older children from a previous relationship and married Kenney two years earlier after meeting him at church.

Deputies said Kenney struggled with drugs and alcohol and had been violent in the past, though he had no prior criminal record.

“You know you’re drinking, you’re using cocaine again. This is not the way the family should be. You need God,” Roure wrote in an undated note to her husband that deputies said was found in the home.

Stephanie Roure told USA Today that her sister believed Kenney would get help.

“After they were married, I know she said he was drinking a lot more, but she said that he was going to stop and said he would get help with it. Obviously, that didn’t happen,” she said.

“He absolutely destroyed a family,” Judd said.

“When you go in there, there is a beautiful Christmas tree with lots of Christmas presents under the tree, just like the nuclear family should be … and it ends up this way,” he added.

The three children are now living with their grandparents. A GoFundMe created by the family described Roure as “a loving and devoted mother whose life was stolen far too soon.”

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