A Michigan father unleashed a tragic morning of violence on his own children, leaving one dead and two critically injured.
A father shot dead his 17-year-old son and blasted two of his other children the morning he was due at court because he was “stressed”, according to authorities. He later tried to take his own life unsuccessfully.
According to reports, police officials alleged Tuesday that 44-year-old Jeffrey Smerer from Michigan survived his suicide attempt on September 11, after plotting to murder his three children a week before.
Smerer tried to kill himself by allegedly slicing his wrist open and taking “multiple forms of medication” that he had hidden in his family’s main bedroom but survived.
Before attempting to take his own life, the father shot his 17-year-old son, Kayleb Smerer, and two of the boy’s siblings, 13-year-old Bentley Smerer and 12-year-old Kinzley Smerer.
Kayleb tragically died while Bentley and Kinzley suffered critical injuries, according to prosecutors. Smerer had reportedly told cops he was “stressed due to the sentencing on his court case” for the indecent exposure charge from 2020.
When cops asked Smerer why he focused on taking the lives of the children, Detective Grafton Sharp, with the Port Huron Police Department, explained Smerer’s bizarre response.
“His reason was that he was closest to Kinzley and Kayleb. He also said that Kinzley was close to Bentley,” Sharp alleged, and Smerer’s plan was “to take Kinzley, Bentley, and Kayleb with him and then shoot himself,” according to the detective.
Smerer shot his 17-year-old son, Kayleb Smerer — who died (Image: GoFundMe)
Smerer allegedly told the police he started planning the murder suicide “approximately a week prior”. When they asked what was going through his mind before the crime, he allegedly told them he was thinking about his sentencing, believed he “might be going to jail,” according to a testimony on Tuesday.
His sister, Victoria Frazer, gave an interview to local ABC affiliate WXYZ after the shooting, and said, “He woke up, woke the kids up to go to school, and ya know, it was a regular day and something just happened.”
Detective Sharp alleged that Smerer told cops he woke up on Thursday morning and got a pistol from his gun safe before waking the children up.
“He indicated that he woke up around 6:00 in the morning to his alarm, retrieved his .380 from the gun safe, which he keeps underneath his bed, and then proceeded into the bedroom of Kinzley and Bentley,” Sharp said.
Smerer entered the kids’ bedroom and allegedly said “good morning” before walking into a family bathroom. “He talked to himself in the mirror, questioning himself if he was really going to do this,” Sharp explained.
During his police interview, Smerer described how he went back into the bedroom and opened fire, shooting at Bentley while he was “underneath a blanket” and on his cellphone, according to Sharp.
13-year-old Bentley Smerer and 12-year-old Kinzley Smerer suffered critical injuries, according to prosecutors (Image: GoFundMe)
Kinzely was also getting up, and Smerer allegedly aimed the pistol “at her throat and fired”. Smerer allegedly shot 17-year-old Kayleb in the living room while he was sitting on a couch, according to Sharp, who stated that Smerer told him he aimed the pistol “at Kayleb’s head”.
It is alleged that Smerers’ .380 pistol then “jammed” and that’s when he attempted to cut himself. He was then reportedly disarmed by his wife and 19-year-old son, who were awake and home at the time of the attack.
Smerers was denied bond on Tuesday, and the judge ordered him to stay away from his surviving children. He pleaded guilty to the charge of indecent exposure earlier this year.
The shooting has left Bentley with facial fractures, while Kinzley is now paralyzed from the neck down. She also received facial reconstruction surgery for her injuries. (The Mirror US)
