Left inset: Jeffrey Smerer (WJBK/YouTube). Right inset: Kinzley Smerer, Bentley Smerer and Kayleb Smerer (GoFundMe). Background: The apartments where Jeffrey Smerer allegedly shot his three children (WDIV/YouTube).
A Michigan father who was allegedly “stressed” over a sentencing for an indecent exposure incident decided to kill his 17-year-old son and shoot two of his other children the morning of the court proceeding before trying to take his own life, cops say.
Jeffrey Smerer, 44, survived the Sept. 11 murder-suicide attempt after plotting for a week about carrying it out, police officials alleged Tuesday during a preliminary examination.
Smerer allegedly sliced his wrist open and took “multiple forms of medication” that he had stashed in the family”s master bedroom, but was able to stay alive. The suicide attempt came after Smerer shot his 17-year-old son, Kayleb Smerer — who died — and two of the boy’s siblings, 13-year-old Bentley Smerer and 12-year-old Kinzley Smerer, who suffered critical injuries, according to prosecutors.
Detective Grafton Sharp, with the Port Huron Police Department, described Tuesday during the preliminary hearing how Smerer told cops he was “stressed due to the sentencing on his court case” for the indecent exposure charge, which he got hit with in 2020.
Asked “why he focused” on the children and chose to take their lives, Sharp said, “His reason was that he was closest to Kinzley and Kayleb. He also said that Kinzley was close to Bentley.” Smerer allegedly said the plan was “to take Kinzley, Bentley, and Kayleb with him and then shoot himself,” according to Sharp.
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Asked how long he had been planning to carry out the attack, Smerer allegedly told cops he started plotting “approximately a week prior.” He claimed to have cut his wrist and took “multiple forms of medication” that he had found in the family’s master bedroom, per Sharp.
Cops questioned Smerer about what was going through his mind before the shooting and alleged suicide attempt happened, and he allegedly told them he was thinking about his sentencing and that he believed he “might be going to jail,” according to testimony on Tuesday.
“He woke up, woke the kids up to go to school and ya know, it was a regular day and something just happened,” said Smerer’s sister, Victoria Frazer, in an interview with local ABC affiliate WXYZ after the shooting.
According to Sharp, Smerer told cops he woke up that Thursday morning and retrieved a pistol from his gun safe before waking the kids 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 explained.
After entering the bedroom, Smerer allegedly said “good morning” and then walked into a family bathroom. “He talked to himself in the mirror,” Sharp told the court. “Questioning himself if he was really going to do this.”
Smerer said in his police interview that he went back into the children’s bedroom moments later and started blasting, according to Sharp, with Bentley being targeted while he was “underneath a blanket” and on his cellphone.
“He was aiming towards the glow,” Sharp recalled Smerer saying. “Kinzely was getting up and he aimed at her throat and fired.”
Kayleb was allegedly targeted by Smerer in the living room while he was sitting on a couch, according to Sharp. “He stated he aimed at Kayleb’s head,” Sharp alleged.
When it came time to take his own life, Smerer allegedly claimed his .380 “jammed” and that’s when he tried cutting himself. He was reportedly disarmed by his wife and 19-year-old son, who were awake and home at the time.
Family members told WXYZ that Bentley suffered facial fractures in the shooting attack, while Kinzley had a bullet “lodged” in her spine and is now paralyzed from the neck down. She also underwent facial reconstruction surgery for her injuries.
“Jeff was a good father,” claimed Smerer’s brother-in-law, Lank Green, while speaking to WXYZ after the shooting. “He did everything, bent over backwards for the family. Started having issues, searched out for medical help, ya know, mental help and didn’t get what he needed. Seemed like he needed more support and he didn’t get it.”
Relatives have refused to speak about Smerer’s indecent exposure case. He pleaded guilty to the charge earlier this year. The judge overseeing his murder case denied Smerer bond on Tuesday and ordered him to stay away from his surviving children.
