A father allegedly shot dead his wife, their two kids, and his young niece and nephew an hour after one of the children’s birthday party.
Brandon Allan Kendrick, 32, faces five counts of capital murder after the mass shooting at his pastor grandfather Allan’s property in rural Alabama.
His wife Kelse Kendrick, 24, was found dead alongside their son Kaleb, 6, and Kynli, 2, and their cousins Colton, 8, and Haley Daniels, 6, on Thursday night. Kelse and her side of the family were celebrating Colton’s ninth birthday, but she returned about 7 pm after Kendrick demanded she come home.
All five were shot in the head and found dead at the scene, other than Haley, who was still breathing and rushed to hospital, but did not survive.
Kendrick allegedly gunned down his family at the garage apartment they lived in on Allan Kendrick’s property in West Blocton, about 40 miles south of Birmingham.
Allan is the pastor of Oasis of Praise Church in nearby Bessemer, and called 911 about 8.18 pm on Thursday after finding the bodies.
Kelse’s uncle Eli Morrow and his wife Brittany said the party was held at family patriarch Bill Morrow’s house ahead of Colton’s birthday on Tuesday.
Kendrick was at not at the party, and his schizophrenic episodes had worsened over the previous two weeks.
‘All of the children were supposed to spend the night at [Bill’s] home,’ Brittany told DailyMail.com.
‘Brandon repeatedly begged and pleaded with her to come home and she gave in… within an hour they were all shot in the head.’
Brittany explained that Colton and Haley’s mother Jessica Morrow, 35, was having major surgery the next morning, so there was no option but to send them with Kelse.
‘We live 45 minutes away. I wish to God they had asked us to take them for the night,’ she said.
‘What we are struggling with the most, is that it was a last-minute decision to take them over there, it was never in the plan.’
Kelse’s car was broken down so Jessica dropped all five of them off at home on Green Tree Drive about 7pm.
Kelse is Eli’s niece by his older sister, who has since died, and Bill’s grandfather, and the Morrow and Kendrick families have been intertwined for generations.
Eli had custody of Colton and Haley from January 2021 until last November, when a judge allowed them to return to Jessica.
‘Jessica finally got her kids back, and then this happens,’ Brittany said.
‘I am devastated and destroyed… Eli and I had full custody of them for almost three years and they were my babies.’
